LIBRARY 

University  of 

California 

Irvine 


WHAT  IS  BACK  OF  THE  WAR 


Preparing  to  go  into  action,  French  front,  February  27th,  1915. 

" '  It  is  a  matter  of  exact  mathematics,'  elucidates  the  artillery 

commander." 


WHAT  IS  BACK  OF 
THE  WAR 


ALBERT  J.  BEVERIDGE 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH 
PHOTOGRAPHS 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT  1915 
THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 


PRESS    OF 

BRAUNWORTH    &    CO. 

BOOKBINDERS    AND     PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN,    N.    Y. 


The  chapters  of  this  book  are  chiefly  made  up 
of  articles  that  in  condensed  form  appeared  in 
Collier's  Weekly,  the  American  Review  of  Reviews 
and  The  Saturday  Evening  Post.  And  it  is  with 
thanks  that  the  publisher  acknowledges  the  courtesy 
of  the  editors  of  these  periodicals  for  permission  to 
include  the  articles  in  this  volume. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    ON  THE  DOORSTEP  OF  WAR         ....         1 

II   GERMAN  TRENCH  AND  BATTERY        ...  19      - 

III  THE  GERMAN  EMPEROR  AND  Two  OF  His 

FIGHTING  CHIEFS 50 

IV  A  DAY  OF  WINTER  BATTLE 81 

V   SOME  FRUITS  OF  WAR 109  — 

VI   A  PEOPLE  AT  WAR 131 

VII   GERMAN  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — I      .  164 

VIII    GERMAN  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — II    .  192 

IX   ESPECIALLY  SHELLED  :   FRENCH  FRONT       .       .  216 — 

X   FRANCE  IN  ARMS 244^ 

XI   FRENCH  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — I       .  273 

XII   FRENCH  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — II     .  296 

XIII  WAR  CONDITIONS  IN  ENGLAND  :  A  CONTRAST  .  323 

XIV  BRITISH  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — I       .  363 
XV   BRITISH  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — II      .  382 

XVI    PROBABILITIES  406 


WHAT  IS  BACK  OF  THE  WAR 


WHAT  IS  BACK  OF 
THE  WAR 

I 

ON  THE  DOORSTEP  OF  WAR* 

"TT  7E  WERE  part  of  those  who  held  back  the 
VV  Germans  at  Antwerp  while  the  bulk  of  the 
Belgian  army  were  getting  away.  Then  we  ourselves 
left.  For  a  night  and  a  day  we  floundered  in  swamps 
and  marshes.  We  did  not  know  where  we  were,  where 
to  go,  or  what  to  do.  We  became  discouraged.  'What's 
the  use  ?'  we  said  to  one  another.  'Let  us  get  over  into 
Holland.'  And  so  we  did.  And  here  we  are." 

Thus  spoke  a  Belgian  private  soldier,  one  of  the 
fifteen  thousand  gathered  in  one  intern  camp  near 
Zeist,  a  town  of  Holland.  On  an  open  plot  of  ground, 
slightly  elevated  above  the  fields  below,  is  this  corral 
of  the  disarmed  thousands.  A  barbed-wire  fence,  per- 
haps half  a  mile  long  and  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
wide,  incloses  the  ground  and  roughly  built  barracks 
and  other  houses  where  these  out-of-the-war  Belgian 
soldiers  are  confined.  No  trees  are  nearer  the  in- 
closure  than  half  a  mile.  Back  and  forth,  outside  the 

*  Written  at  The  Hague,  December  26-27,  1914. 

1 


2         WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

barbed-wire  fence,  pace  widely  spaced  Dutch  sentries 
with  bayoneted  rifles  on  shoulder.  Now  and  then  a 
smart-looking  young  "Dutch  West  Point"  officer,  trim 
and  slender  as  a  girl  in  his  gray-green  uniform,  enters 
and  makes  inspection. 

Singly  or,  more  often,  in  little  squads  of  three  or 
five,  the  weaponless  but  uniformed  Belgians  tramp 
about  or  gather  with  surprising  quickness  into  crowds 
whenever  anything  unusual  or  of  promising  interest 
occurs.  Most  of  them  are  well  and  warmly  clad  and 
wear  their  military  overcoats.  Some,  who  at  one  point 
or  another  of  the  fighting  had  to  throw  away  their 
clothing  to  swim  canals  or  rivers  as  an  incident  of 
some  retreat,  are  poorly  and  thinly  dressed.  But  these 
are  the  rare  exceptions.  For  the  most  part  they  are 
a  well-fed,  rosy-cheeked  lot,  with  a  mingling  of  scowl 
and  devil-may-care  on  their  faces  as  they  clump  about 
in  their  wooden  shoes — for  almost  all  have  their  feet 
thrust  in  this  homely  footwear. 

At  first  sight  and  smell  the  camp  is  cheerless,  even 
forbidding.  Multitudes  of  odors  strike  one's  un- 
seasoned nostrils.  But  yonder  stands  an  enormous 
building  of  rough  new  boards;  it  is  the  camp  canteen, 
where  the  idle  warriors  may  refresh  and  amuse  them- 
selves. You  step  inside  and  think  for  a  moment  that 
you  are  in  a  gigantic  social  hall  or  rathskeller.  Hun- 
dreds of  soldiers  are  sitting  at  tables  drinking  their 
beer,  munching  their  chocolate,  and,  without  excep- 
tion, talking.  Most  are  playing  cards.  Here,  plainly, 
an  argument  is  going  on;  there  a  humorist  is  telling 
a  story;  yonder  a  comparison  of  experiences  is  being 
made. 


ON   THE   DOORSTEP   OF   WAR          3 

Altogether  a  vast  confusion  of  sound  smites  the  ear. 
Not  everybody  can  understand  everybody,  even  at  ad- 
joining tables.  Some  speak  French  and  no  Flemish; 
others  Flemish  and  no  French.  Nor  do  all  look  alike 
physically  or  have  the  same  general  type  of  features. 
Only  the  sameness  of  the  long  blue  overcoats,  of  the 
blue  rimless  caps  with  narrow  red  bands,  marks  them 
as  comrades  of  a  single  army. 

This  camp  of  disarmed  Belgian  troops  makes  you 
realize  that  you  are  standing  on  the  doorstep  of  war. 
One  never  would  guess  that  one  is  almost  within  hear- 
ing of  heavy  cannonading  if  one  sauntered  about  the 
streets  of  The  Hague,  Rotterdam,  Utrecht,  Amster- 
dam, or  any  other  city  or  town  of  Holland,  so  quietly 
and  casually  do  daily  life  and  business  go  forward  in 
the  Netherlands.  A  hint  indeed  is  conveyed  by  the 
more  than  usual  number  of  Dutch  soldiers  which  the 
watchful  observer  sees;  yet  even  these  are  not  more 
numerous  than  the  tourist  beholds  who  chances  to  be 
passing  through  this  curious  little  country  of  wind- 
mills during  the  period  of  the  annual  maneuvers. 

But,  for  forty-eight  hours  before  walking  down  the 
gangplank  from  the  ship  and  setting  foot  on  Dutch 
soil  at  Rotterdam,  signs  and  omens  of  the  approach  of 
danger  and  tragedy  are  plain  and  vivid.  From  the 
moment  English  shores  are  sighted  until  the  gun  of 
salute  booms  out  upon  entering  the  Maas,  the  river 
that  leads  to  Rotterdam,  one  can  not  escape  the  ad- 
vertisements that  one  is  entering  and,  indeed,  is  within 
the  zone  of  peril. 

The  English  search-lights  glow  from  the  far-off 
Lizard.  On  nearer  approach  to  Dover  they  flash  and 


4         WHAT]   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

circle  and  search.  Just  beyond  this  British  harbor 
nearest  to  France,  and  at  the  point  where  the  Channel 
is  narrowest,  your  neutral  ship  is  halted  by  a  British 
vessel  of  war.  Down  comes  your  ship's  wireless  appa- 
ratus and  down  it  stays,  not  only  until  your  vessel  is 
released,  but  almost  until  her  prow  is  thrust  into  the 
waters  of  the  North  Sea.  A  British  naval  officer 
conies  aboard  and  scrutinizes  with  the  eye  of  a  Sher- 
lock Holmes  the  cargo  manifest,  the  separate  bills  of 
lading,  and  anything  else  that  may  throw  light  on  the 
contents  of  the  ship's  hold. 

"Your  passenger  list,  please,"  requests,  or  rather 
orders,  this  uniformed  watchman  at  England's  gates; 
and  no  biologist  with  a  microscope  ever  examined  more 
carefully  his  specimens  than  does  this  keen-eyed  offi- 
cer the  names  and  descriptions  of  those  who  have  sailed 
from  America  for  this  domain  of  turmoil  and  strife. 
Nobody  may  pass  who  might  turn  out  to  be  a  fighting 
man  on  Germany's  side. 

Two  Luxemburg  youths  are  called  to  the  captain's 
cabin.  The  British  officers  (by  now  the  examining 
officer  has  gone  and  two  of  higher  rank  are  aboard) 
are  decidedly  suspicious.  May  these  not  be  German 
reservists  ?  Luckily  for  the  young  Luxemburgers,  Doc- 
tor Henry  van  Dyke,  American  Minister  to  the  Neth- 
erlands, is  aboard.  It  is  that  admirable  diplomatist 
and  cultured  gentleman  who  examines  the  suspected 
boys,  for  he  represents  America  in  Luxemburg  as  well 
as  Holland.  Also  he  knows  intimately  every  foot  of 
that  tiny  and  charming  country. 

"Where  do  you  live?  How  is  the  land  on  this  or 
that  side  of  the  town?  What  is  its  location  with 


ON   THE   DOORSTEP   OF   WAR          5 

reference  to  the  forest?  Where  does  the  river  flow?" 
Promptly,  correctly,  the  test  inquiries  are  answered. 
The  Englishmen  are  convinced  and  the  trembling 
young  fellows  sent  to  their  quarters. 

In  the  cargo  is  found  copper  wire.  For  hours  the 
ship  is  detained;  but,  plainly,  copper  wire  is  not  the 
cause,  for  it  is  consigned  to  the  Dutch  government. 
Nobody  knows  the  reason  except  the  British  authori- 
ties, but  probably  some  one  on  board  is  suspected  of 
bearing  communications  or  something  else  which  the 
British  do  not  wish  to  reach  Germany. 

When,  finally,  the  ban  is  lifted  and  the  captain  told 
that  he  may  go  ahead,  the  anchor  is  not  hauled  up, 
for  the  Channel  is  heavily  mined,  and  only  a  narrow 
passage  between  the  mine  field  and  the  shore  is  safe, 
while  only  three  or  four  hours  beyond  is  the  North 
Sea,  sown  with  explosives.  So,  while  it  is  quite  safe 
by  daylight,  no  chances  are  taken  in  the  dark. 

"Your  place  will  be  in  boat  No.  2,  starboard."  Lists 
of  passengers,  grouped  and  assigned  to  the  life-boats, 
are  posted  up.  Morning  reveals  every  boat  on  the  ship 
swung  over  the  side,  provisioned  and  ready  for  lower- 
ing away.  Yes,  surely,  war  is  in  the  air!  There  is 
really  very  little  danger,  of  course;  but  no  infinitesimal 
precaution  is  neglected,  for  a  few  of  the  hundreds  of 
mines  have  broken  from  their  moorings  and  are  afloat. 
Most  of  these  are  supposed  to  lose  their  destructive 
power  after  a  few  hours  awash ;  but  it  is  not  always  so. 

And  the  life-boats!  If,  by  the  millionth  chance,  one 
of  these  marine  bombs  should  strike  the  prow  of  a 
modern  liner,  she  would  not  go  down.  Even  if  the 
explosion  came  amidships,  fifteen  minutes  at  the  very 


6         WHAT   IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

least  would  pass  before  the  vessel  could  sink;  and  in 
ten  minutes  at  the  outside,  as  this  ship  is  managed, 
every  passenger  and  every  member  of  the  crew  could 
be  off  in  those  waiting  life-boats,  swinging  so  confi- 
dently from  their  davits  over  the  sides.  The  boat  goes 
slowly,  very,  very  slowly  through  the  danger  zone — 
the  Dutch  captain  takes  no  chances,  runs  no  risks. 

So,  with  every  preparation  made  for  every  possible 
happening,  nothing,  of  course,  happens — so  well 
marked  is  the  passageway  through  the  mine  fields  to 
the  ports  of  neutral  Holland.  Whether  nervous  with 
apprehension  or  eagerly  curious  to  look  upon  a  visible 
cause  of  all  this  ado,  everybody  is  secretly  or  openly 
disappointed  that  a  mine  is  not  at  least  sighted.  And 
here  comes  a  wireless  from  a  sister  ship,  only  four 
miles  distant,  that  she  has  just  passed  two  mines,  one 
only  a  few  hundred  yards  away  and  the  other  directly 
alongside.  Alas ! 

Yet  on  the  still  and  peaceful  waters  something  is 
floating.  It  is  not  too  far  away  to  be  seen  plainly.  But 
it  is  not  a  mine.  It  is  not  a  plank  or  spar — it  is  just 
part  of  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  war.  The  body  of 
a  man  drifts  upon  the  indifferent  waters.  Face  down- 
ward it  is,  swimming  the  course  of  death,  the  dead  eyes 
peering  into  the  depths  for  the  eternal  mysteries.  A 
sailor  he  had  been,  English  or  German,  one  of  those 
who  had  fought  in  the  North  Sea  battle  a  few  weeks 
before.  Thus  he  lingered  upon  the  element  where  he 
had  lived  and  worked  until  red  combat  put  a  period 
to  it  all. 

So  once  again  before    the    peaceful    Netherlands 


ON    THE    DOORSTEP    OF    WAR  7 

shores  were  sighted  came  this  reminder  that  the  na- 
tions are  in  arms. 

In  some  of  these  incidents,  and  in  many  others  not 
yet  mentioned,  is  more  than  mere  material  for  dramatic 
pictures.  They  are  more  than  the  frayed  and  sullen 
fringes  of  life-and-death  grappling  conflict.  Out  of 
these  circumstances  are  slowly  being  woven,  by  the 
hands  of  Fate,  the  threads  of  public  opinion  in  a 
neutral  country. 

But  let  us  go,  from  the  holding  up  of  a  neutral  vessel 
by  British  warships  in  the  Channel,  back  again  to  the 
Belgian  soldiers  interned  in  their  war-time  comfortable 
but  peace-time  comfortless  camp.  These  are  fifteen 
of  the  thirty  thousand  Belgian  soldiers  who  fled  to  the 
neutral  Netherlands  in  their  dismay,  confusion  and 
discouragement,  the  other  fifteen  thousand  being  in  a 
similar  camp  elsewhere  in  the  Dutch  domains. 

The  living  quarters  of  these  men,  while  not  what  one 
would  call  orientally  luxurious,  are,  nevertheless,  not 
unbearable.  Any  man  who  lived  in  an  American  or 
Canadian  logging  camp  thirty  years  ago  had  quarters 
less  appealing.  The  housing  of  them  is  cold  and  un- 
comfortable, though  each  man  has  his  own  bunk,  with 
nobody  above  him,  a  mattress  made  of  coarse  bagging 
filled  with  straw,  and  thick  army  blar.Vets  to  cover  him. 
As  yet  the  floor  is  the  bare  earth  and  many  of  the  roofs 
leak,  but  this  will  be  remedied. 

The  spectacle  of  the  camp's  immense  canteen  is  here 
repeated  with  variations.  One  soldier  is  writing  a  let- 
ter (dozens,  scores  of  those  who  are  writing  home,  are 
seen  racing  to  the  camp's  post-office  at  the  hour  for 


8         WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

closing  the  mail)  ;  another  former  combatant  is  mend- 
ing his  clothes  in  quiet  content.  In  almost  every  third 
stall  a  game  of  cards  is  being  played  with  the  same 
gusto  and  excitement  which  you  have  just  beheld  in 
the  huge  camp  social  hall. 

Now  and  again  a  more  than  ordinarily  intelligent- 
looking  fellow  is  so  wholly  engrossed  in  reading  a 
magazine  or  novel  that  he  does  not  even  look  up  when 
an  American  visitor  walks  by,  although  such  a  thing 
is  so  unusual  that  to  most  of  these  detained  soldiers  it 
amounts  to  an  event  and  a  sensation.  Others  read 
newspapers  or  scraps  of  them. 

"Our  chief  complaint,"  said  an  uncommonly  intelli- 
gent and  French-speaking  Belgian  soldier,  "is  that  we 
do  not  have  enough  to  read."  "Huh,"  said  a  nat- 
uralized Hollander  who  had  lived  for  thirty-seven  years 
on  Dutch  soil  and  is  as  impartial  a  man  as  can  be  found 
in  the  Netherlands.  "Huh !"  said  he.  "So  that's  what 
they  are  saying  now,  is  it?  Well,  the  best  answer  is 
that  the  English  soldiers  interned  in  camp  at  Groningen 
have  written  that  they  have  more  than  enough  reading 
matter,  quite  enough  games,  and  are  well  content  and 
thankful  for  their  treatment.  Yet  all  are  treated  alike. 
The  truth  is  that  a  Belgian  is  grateful  for  nothing,  or, 
rather,  never  is  grateful  for  anything." 

This  camp  of  the  interned  Belgian  soldiers  near  Zeist 
is  the  scene  of  the  recent  riot  which  caused  the  Dutch 
soldiers  on  guard  to  shoot  into  the  mob,  killing  eight 
and  wounding  two.  There  are  two  accounts  of  this 
affair.  "The  Netherlands  government  not  only  feed 
and  house  these  men,  but  pay  them  twenty  cents  a  day 
(a  little  over  eight  cents  American  money).  Yet,  al- 


ON    THE    DOORSTEP    OF    WAR          9 

though  they  are  getting  all  of  this  from  us,  they  said 
that  the  prices  charged  at  the  canteen  are  too  high,  and 
their  manner  of  protesting  was  by  physical  force.  Also, 
they  will  not  work  when  work  is  offered  them."  It 
was  a  Holland  subject  who  was  speaking,  one  not  con- 
nected with  the  government,  and  a  good  type  of  the 
educated  middle  class  of  the  Netherlands. 

But :  "The  money  we  spent  in  the  canteen  did  not 
all  come  from  the  Dutch  government,"  said  a  Belgian 
interned  soldier.  "Most  of  the  cash  with  which  we 
bought  chocolate,  beer,  buns  and  the  like  was  sent  us 
by  friends  and  relatives  from  Belgium.  And  this  can- 
teen, which  is  a  private  money-making  enterprise,  ex- 
torted outrageous  prices.  On  standard  articles,  the 
selling  price  of  which  is  well  known  and  uniform,  we 
were  charged  an  amount  which  yielded  the  concession- 
aire thirty-three  and  one-third  per  cent,  profit  over  his 
normal  profit.  We  rebelled.  Of  course  it  was  foolish, 
but  some  of  us  expressed  our  sentiments  by  throwing 
rocks  through  the  windows  of  the  canteen." 

"All  this  has  been  looked  into,"  said  a  Hollander, 
"and  as  a  result,  Dutch  public  opinion  is  decided  and 
practically  unanimous  against  the  Belgians  in  this  in- 
stance. Inquire  about  and  find  out  for  yourself."  In- 
quiring about  accordingly  was  done,  and  this  Dutch- 
man's emphatic  report  of  public  opinion  was  confirmed. 

A  crowded  cafe,  where  the  common  people  gather 
to  meet,  converse  and  listen  to  the  occasional  music, 
was  filled  with  talk,  laughter  and  smoke.  One  could 
not  help  overhearing  strident  conversations.  "These 
Belgians!  Ach!  I  can  not  endure  them!"  said  a  young 
Dutch  woman  of  the  working  class  to  her  companions 


10       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE    WAR 

at  a  near-by  table.  "Dirty— oh,  so  dirty  and  shiftless 
and  idle !  They  take  all  they  can  get  and  want  more, 
and  they  are  never  thankful.  They  will  not  work." 

"Unless  it  is  racial  it  is  a  very  curious  thing  that  the 
Belgians,  whom  war  has  driven  to  us  and  whom  we 
welcomed,  do  not  want  to  work.  To  be  sure,  there  is 
not  much  work  to  do,  but  they  do  not  want  and  will 
not  do  the  little  that  is  offered  them.  It  does  not  in- 
crease our  respect  for  them,  to  say  the  least."  Such 
was  the  comment  of  a  member  of  the  Dutch  land- 
owning nobility.  Her  point  of  view  and  that  of  the 
working  girl  in  the  cafe  differed  only  in  the  manner 
of  expression.  The  former  was  speaking  of  the 
refugees;  the  latter  of  all  Belgians. 

"Oh,  yes,  a  little  work  was  offered  us,"  said  a  Bel- 
gian interned  soldier.  "Not  enough  to  hurt,  but  a  lit- 
tle. We  would  not  do  it — but  why?  Because  it  took 
just  that  much  employment  away  from  Dutch  labor- 
ers. Of  course,  I  am  a  Socialist,"  he  explained.  "We 
do  not  think  it  is  right  to  take  work  from  those  who 
need  it,  especially  when  the  offer  of  employment  is 
made  only  because  the  would-be  employer  expects  to 
get  us  cheaply." 

Still,  public  opinion  in  the  Netherlands,  judged  by 
different  and,  measured  by  the  social  scale,  antipodal 
sources,  is  against  the  Belgians,  whether  interned  sol- 
dier or  fleeing  refugee,  on  their  unwillingness  to  work, 
their  ingratitude,  and  their  bumptiousness.  Dutch  no- 
bleman and  Dutch  peasant  are  in  accord  on  this  point ; 
and  nothing  is  rarer  than  an  agreement  on  anything 
between  the  aristocracy  and  the  common  people  of 
Holland. 


ON    THE    DOORSTEP    OF    WAR         11 

While  there  are  only  thirty  thousand  Belgian  sol- 
diers interned  within  the  impartial  boundaries  of  this 
placid  land,  around  which  war  is  swirling  in  wild 
carousal,  there  are  more  than  five  hundred  thousand 
Belgian  refugees  on  Dutch  soil.  These  are  collected 
in  various  "refugee  camps"  or  sojourning  in  the 
houses  of  well-to-do  Hollanders.  One  wealthy  capital- 
ist of  Amsterdam  affords  shelter,  food  and  clothing 
for  eighty.  Those  who  thus  have  been  taken  into  pri- 
vate houses  are  of  the  better  grade. 

Some  of  the  rich  Belgians  live  luxuriously  in  the  best 
and  most  expensive  hotels.  Against  these  latter  there 
is  distinct,  though  not  outspoken,  resentment  on  the 
part  of  the  Dutch  people,  both  rich  and  poor  alike. 
"For,"  say  these  Hollanders,  "we  are  supporting  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  the  fellow  countrymen  and 
women  of  these  opulent  Belgians,  and  yet  not  one 
guilder  will  they  take  from  their  deep,  fat  purses  to 
aid  us  in  our  work  of  relief  of  their  own  less  fortunate 
compatriots." 

Said  an  informed  and  quite  indifferent  American 
on  this  point :  "Look  around  you.  Here  in  this  din- 
ing room  you  may  see  some  of  these  very  Belgians  of 
whose  wealth  and  parsimony  the  Hollanders  complain. 
Everything  the  latter  say  is  quite  true." 

"Yes,  but  you  must  remember,"  remarked  another 
American  of  more  judicial  temperament,  "that  these 
rich  Belgians  feel  that  they  must  in  the  end  bear  most 
of  the  financial  brunt  of  the  war,  no  matter  how  the 
conflict  turns  out;  if  Germany  wins,  it  is  out  of  their 
pockets  that  most  of  the  war  indemnity  will  be  taken; 
if  the  Allies  win,  still  from  the  coffers  of  these  rich 


12       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

Belgians  must  come  most  of  the  war  taxes  necessary  to 
rehabilitate  their  country;  and  this  is  the  view-point 
at  the  present  moment  of  these  moneyed  Belgian 
refugees.  They  think  that  what  the  Hollanders  declare 
to  be  their  stinginess  is  merely  the  prudent  virtue  of 
being  long-headed  and  forehanded." 

In  a  Belgian  refugee  camp  there  was  found  a  mix- 
ture of  opinion,  but,  speaking  by  and  large,  no  opinion 
at  all.  "Oh,  yes,  of  course  we  would  work  if  they 
would  give  us  any  work  to  do ;  anything  is  better  than 
the  labor  of  doing  nothing.  But  these  Dutch  don't 
offer  us  work — not  yet,  at  least.  We  hear  that  they 
will  after  a  while,  but  so  far  it  has  not  turned  up."  So 
commented  one  Belgian  refugee. 

"As  for  me,"  said  another  refugee  in  this  same  camp, 
"I  think  we  are  treated  very  well.  Of  course  there 
are  some  people  who  would  not  be  satisfied  in  Heaven. 
Take  our  food,  for  instance.  It  is  good  enough  under 
the  circumstances.  There  are  hundreds  in  this  very 
camp  who  right  this  minute  are  eating  a  better  meal 
than  they  have  ever  had  in  their  lives." 

The  interior  of  the  big  dining  place,  which  accommo- 
dated many  hundreds  (there  were  several  others  of  the 
same  size),  revealed  what  this  meal  was  and  also  the 
quality  of  those  who  were  eating  it.  A  thick,  savory, 
nourishing  soup  made  by  boiling  meat,  cabbages  and 
potatoes  together;  the  meat  thus  boiled;  big  cups  of 
steaming  coffee  and  an  abundance  of  "black  bread" 
made  up  the  bill  of  fare  in  the  Belgian  refugees'  camp 
on  Christmas  Day,  1914. 

It  is  precisely  the  same  on  every  other  day,  For 
breakfast,  coffee  and  bread;  for  the  evening  meal, 


ON    THE   DOORSTEP    OF   WAR         13 

coffee,  bread  and  potatoes — these,  with  the  midday 
meal  described,  constitute  the  daily  feeding  of  the 
stranded  Belgian  refugees  in  the  camps  of  Holland. 
The  thousands  quartered  on  hospitable  Dutch  families 
fare  still  better,  of  course.  Judging  by  the  European 
standard  of  living,  the  thrifty  Hollanders  consider 
that  their  war-invited  guests  are  faring  quite  gener- 
ously. 

All  this  exposes  one  cause  of  the  plainly  apparent 
anti-Belgian  feeling  in  the  Netherlands.  This  Dutch 
dislike  of  their  neighbors  has  its  roots  deep  in  the  soil 
of  history;  it  is  almost  hereditary.  Thus  is  seen  a 
veering  around  of  public  sympathy  and  sentiment;  for 
when,  at  first,  this  army  of  the  unfortunate  crossed 
the  frontier  in  want,  terror  and  despair  with  their 
tales  of  woe,  even  Holland's  heart,  which  is  wary  and 
by  no  means  worn  on  the  sleeve,  was  touched.  The 
Dutch,  high  and  low,  were  in  that  hour  all  for  their 
homeless  neighbors. 

But  now?  "Well,  a  Belgian  is  always  a  Belgian," 
remarked  one  of  the  Dutch  gentry,  and  shrugged  his 
shoulders.  "After  all,"  he  added,  "history  tells  no 
lies." 

It  must  be  said  that  those  in  the  refugee  camps  do 
not  inspire  admiration.  Here  and  there  a  well-appear- 
ing person  is  found;  and  occasionally  a  very  pretty 
child.  Once  a  really  beautiful  young  woman  was  seen, 
but  she,  unfortunately,  was  in  the  segregated  women's 
quarters.  By  far  the  greater  number  are  stolid  and 
unwholesome  in  appearance.  Many  are  seemingly  dis- 
eased. 

"Oh,  well,"  said  a  carefully  informed  man,  "these 


people  in  the  camps  are  what  you  call  the  'riff-raff.' ' 
It  is  this  majority  that  seem  to  have  no  opinion  of  any 
kind  on  anything. 

According  to  one  closely  connected  with  the  com- 
pany owning  the  neutral  ship,  the  holding  up  in  the 
Straits  of  Dover  of  the  vessel  cost  the  owners  several 
thousands  of  dollars;  for,  although  it  was  detained  but 
twelve  hours,  this  meant  that  it  was  more  than  a  day 
late  in  reaching  the  home  port.  When  the  ship,  re- 
leased at  midnight,  weighed  anchor  at  dawn  and  pro- 
ceeded on  the  last  day  of  her  voyage,  she  was  twice 
stopped  again. 

"Boom!"  came  the  sound  of  a  British  warship's 
gun,  and  when  the  liner,  not  understanding  the  signal, 
went  ahead,  "Boom !"  again  spoke  the  cannon  from  the 
deck  of  this  British  naval  watchdog.  Captain  and  offi- 
cers fumed  and  raged.  "This  costs  money!  Are  we 
to  be  held  up  again?"  Alongside  a  launch  came  pant- 
ing from  the  British  guard  ship;  the  release  was  ex- 
plained. "Proceed!"  said  the  British  officer.  Once 
more  this  process  was  repeated;  and  then,  further  in- 
terruption impossible,  the  liner  sailed  cautiously  to  her 
destination. 

But  she  carried  irritation  with  her.  Irritation,  too, 
awaited  her  in  port,  a  growing  resentment  as  real  as 
it  is  restrained  and  suppressed.  The  detention  and 
practical  search  of  these  neutral  vessels  is  having  its 
effect  on  the  Dutch  business  classes.  Their  patience 
was  taxed  when,  some  weeks  after  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  one  of  the  largest  of  Holland's  merchant  fleet 
was  stopped  by  a  French  warship,  convoyed  to  the 


ON   THE   DOORSTEP   OF   WAR         15 

harbor  of  Brest,  kept  there  eleven  days,  and  then  re- 
lieved of  most  of  its  cargo  with  decision  and  courtesy. 

A  million  dollars  in  silver  bars  were  taken  off;  "for," 
said  the  French  commander,  "this  may  be  going  to 
Germany;  if  so,  we  will  keep  it;  if  not,  we  will  return 
it."  Large  quantities  of  flour,  beer  and  the  like  were 
also  taken  ashore.  "But  this  is  not  even  conditional 
contraband,  carried  as  it  is  in  a  neutral  bottom  from 
a  neutral  port  to  a  neutral  port  and  consigned  from 
neutrals  to  neutrals,"  protested  the  merchantman's  cap- 
tain. "If  it  so  turns  out,"  answered  the  French  officer 
laughingly,  "we  will  pay  you  for  it." 

"In  Holland  we  call  this  piracy,"  said  the  captain. 
"Never  mind,  never  mind,"  laughed  the  local  French 
sea  lord.  "We  need  it  anyhow.  There  is  a  war  going 
on,  you  know.  Don't  worry.  We  will  pay  you  for  it 
if  you  never  see  it  again.  Have  a  cigarette !" 

Thus  the  incident  was  closed.  Sure  enough,  these 
foodstuffs  never  were  seen  again,  but  they  were  paid 
for.  The  silver  bullion  was  sent  to  Holland.  But  the 
money  loss  resulting  from  the  ship's  long  detention 
was  not  made  good.  The  business  disturbance  caused 
by  the  non-arrival  of  the  consigned  goods  was  not 
quieted. 

Here  is  one  source  of  a  change  in  Dutch  public  opin- 
ion— a  change  so  slight  or  so  well  concealed  that  it 
scarcely  is  perceptible,  can  easily  be  denied,  and  might 
not  be  noted  except  by  a  careful  weighing  of  senti- 
ment and  the  forces  moving  it.  Also,  a  feather's 
weight  of  adverse  circumstance  might  throw  it  the 
other  way. 


16       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE    WAR 

As  between  England  and  Germany  the  scales  of 
Dutch  opinion  were  at  first  almost  evenly  balanced.  It 
can  not  be  said  that  they  are  not  still  in  equilibrium,  as 
indeed  they  always  have  been.  But  if  there  is  any 
scant  descent  of  the  scales  on  one  side  or  another,  it 
is  at  the  present  moment  favorable  to  Germany.  To- 
morrow it  may  veer  toward  England. 

"We  Hollanders  do  not  trust  either  England  or  Ger- 
many, nor,  for  that  matter,  anybody  else ;  but  especially 
these  two  belligerents  in  the  present  war,"  said  a 
Dutchman  of  moderate  means,  some  position  and  a 
characteristically  Dutch  attitude.  "The  Dutchman," 
he  continued,  "thinks  the  German  a  liar  until  he  proves 
himself  truthful;  but  the  Dutchman  thinks  the  Eng- 
lishman a  rogue  and  a  liar  until  he  proves  himself 
honest  as  well  as  truthful." 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  average  man  or  woman 
in  the  Netherlands  always  speaks  of  the  war  as  though 
it  were  a  conflict  exclusively  between  Great  Britain 
and  Germany.  Apparently  the  Dutch  common  people 
never  think  of  France  or  Russia  as  combatants;  and 
as  for  Austria  and  Servia,  one  would  never  know 
that  such  countries  existed  if  one  judged  by  the  casual 
talk  of  Hollanders  among  themselves. 

Astounding,  even  absurd,  as  it  may  sound  to  Ameri- 
can ears,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  among  the  plain 
people  of  Holland  there  is  a  deadly  fear  that  Great 
Britain  will  violate  the  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands. 

"This  is  unthinkable,"  said  the  pursuer  of  facts. 
"Unthinkable  it  may  be,  but  unthinkable  or  not,  it  is 
true,"  answered  a  member  of  the  Dutch  bourgeoisie. 


ON   THE   DOORSTEP   OF   WAR         17 

"What  I  fear  is  that  England — "  came  a  sentence 
floating  upon  the  stream  of  talk  in  a  popular  eating 
place.  So  unexpected,  so  much  by  chance,  and  so 
many  were  the  expressions  like  these  that  inquiry  was 
suggested.  And  this  confirmed  these  strange  and  gro- 
tesque sentiments. 

"It  is  historic,"  said  a  highly  educated  Dutchman; 
"you  know  our  people  are  very  slow,  especially  at  for- 
getting. Suppose  you  read  up  on  Dutch  history  again. 
The  Boer  War  for  instance." 

Still  more  amazing  is  the  lack  of  terror  of  Germany. 
One  does  not  care  to  write  what  has  been  heard  of 
acquiescence  in  even  German  absorption — and  this, 
too,  from  the  masses  themselves. 

The  principal  fear  of  Germany  appears  to  be  that  of 
commercial  rivalry  in  case  she  wins.  "Rotterdam  is 
our  great  port;  far  the  best  on  the  North  Sea;  better 
than  Antwerp  if  controlled  by  Belgium.  But  suppose 
Germany  keeps  Antwerp  ?  With  her  greater  resources, 
her  system  and  energy,  Antwerp  as  a  German  port, 
though  naturally  inferior  to  Rotterdam,  would,  we 
think,  take  from  us  the  bulk  of  trade."  This  was  an 
expression  from  one  of  the  commercial  class  engaged 
in  shipping. 

So  it  is  that  Dutch  public  opinion,  carefully  balanced 
and  self-contained,  yet  inclines  slightly  toward  her 
mighty  eastern  neighbors  in  the  closing  days  of  1914. 
Events  will  determine  it  in  the  future.  The  only  thing 
that  can  be  safely  said  is  that  the  Dutchman  is  not 
pro-German  nor  yet  pro-English,  but  decidedly  pro- 
Dutch.  And  Holland's  vigorous  and,  if  necessary, 


18       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

menacing  little  army,  highly  trained,  is  sleeping  on  its 
arms — no,  not  sleeping,  but  standing  at  attention. 

That  army  would  instantly  resist  any  appearance 
upon  Dutch  soil  of  any  force  coming  for  the  purposes 
of  the  present  war,  whether  that  force  were  German, 
English,  or  of  any  other  belligerent  power.  One  must 
admire  the  Dutch.  Their  cool-headedness,  their  readi- 
ness for  action  and  their  self-contained  wariness  of 
overt  act,  their  undoubted  yet  quiet  courage,  their 
solid  cautious  sense, — all  these  qualities  compel  respect 
and  esteem. 


II 

GERMAN  TRENCH  AND  BATTERY* 

OVER  the  city  of  Lille,  in  northern  France,  thick 
clouds  lowered  weightily.  An  occasional  drop 
of  rain  spat  venge fully  from  the  heavens.  Evening 
was  falling.  "There  will  be  a  storm  to-night,"  re- 
marked the  wanderer  among  strange  scenes. 

"Oh,  no — just  one  of  these  everlasting  rains,"  re- 
plied a  German  officer,  standing  in  the  group.  "It  is 
always  like  this." 

"But,"  persisted  the  stranger,  "listen  to  that  low 
heavy  thunder,  so  full  of  body.  That  means  a  storm." 

"Why,  my  dear  sir,"  laughed  the  military  one,  "that 
is  not  thunder — that  is  artillery." 

"Artillery !     How  far  away  ?" 

"Oh,  I  should  say  that  firing  is  near  Comines,  about 
ten  miles  off." 

A  little  bit  abrupt  this,  with  a  trace  of  gentle  thrill, 
to  one  fresh  from  Berlin  not  thirty  hours  distant  by 
railway — peaceful,  busy,  casual,  matter-of-fact,  yet 
serious  Berlin.  For  this  capital  of  a  mighty  nation 
at  war  shows  few  signs  of  being  the  center  of  the 
greatest  of  all  epochal  conflicts  of  history.  Shops  and 

*  Written  at  the  German  Western  Front,  January  9th  and 
10th,  1915. 

19 


20       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

stores  all  open;  prices  normal,  even  the  usual  first-of- 
January  sales  at  reduced  figures  going  on;  streets 
thronged  with  men  and  women,  thousands  of  the  men 
of  military  age;  theaters,  amusement  halls,  moving- 
picture  shows  crowded  with  patrons;  cafes  and  Bicr- 
stuben  filled  with  quiet,  pleasant  German  folk — ap- 
parently almost  the  Berlin  of  peace  time,  except  for 
occasional  companies  of  troops  in  Fcldgrau,  and 
now  and  then  a  bandaged  soldier  on  the  streets.  In- 
deed, to  one  expecting  marching  thousands,  closed 
windows,  dour  faces,  hurrying  ambulances,  black  days 
and  nights,  with  streets  and  houses  darkened,  Berlin 
surprises  the  visitor  much  more  than  does  the  far- 
distant  battlefield. 

And  Lille  itself,  captured  city  of  France,  held  by  the 
conquerors!  At  first  sight  you  wonder  that  this  can 
be  so.  For  here,  too,  the  sidewalks  are  full  of  peo- 
ple— men,  women,  children ;  here,  too,  stores  and  shops 
are  open,  purchasers  passing  in  and  out ;  here,  too,  the 
street-cars  rumble  over  the  complaining  rails. 

But  for  the  great  number  of  soldiers  thickly  cluster- 
ing everywhere,  but  for  the  largest  of  Lille's  cafes 
monopolized  by  powerful-looking  men  wearing  the  uni- 
form of  the  German  officer,  and  but  for  that  growling 
menace  which  you  have  learned  is  the  sound  of  cannon 
instead  of  the  voice  of  the  impatient  heavens — but  for 
these  war  tokens,  the  newly  arrived  observer  in  his 
first  moments  of  astonishment  would  never  think  Lille 
the  victim  of  conquest. 

To  be  sure,  war's  reddest  advertisement  has  flared 
in  your  face  as  you  enter  the  Lille  station;  for  there, 
on  adjoining  tracks,  two  long  hospital  trains  filled  with 


GERMAN   TRENCH   AND   BATTERY      21 

wounded  are  ready  for  departure  to  the  permanent 
hospitals.  Also,  tall  helmeted  officers  greet  you;  and 
rising  above  the  front  of  the  military  automobile 
which  you  enter,  a  long  edged  hook,  slanting  back- 
ward, lifts  itself  higher  than  your  head.  It  is  to 
break  the  wires  that  sometimes  are  stretched  across 
roads  to  cut  the  throats  of  those  in  these  military  cars, 
who  drive  like  the  wind  in  darkness  as  well  as  light. 

Then,  too,  here  and  there,  what  once  were  great 
buildings,  are  now  only  masses  of  brick,  stone,  mortar 
and  twisted  iron.  But  demolished  structures,  uni- 
formed officers,  plunging  autos,  mangled  men — all  of 
these  you  had  expected.  And  you  had  not  expected 
evidences  of  peaceful,  orderly  and  ordinary  civil  life. 

Indeed,  it  is  a  long  time  from  your  departure  from 
Berlin  station  that  the  work  of  war's  strong,  rough 
and  efficient  hand  strikes  your  eye ;  a  still  longer  time 
before  even  your  expectant  senses  detect  war's  pungent 
atmosphere.  You  are  many  miles  into  France  when 
the  gaunt  walls  of  shell-destroyed  houses  first  flash 
past  you.  A  space  farther  on  and  you  stop  for  a 
moment  at  a  good-sized  town;  three  wagons,  bur- 
dened with  great  loads  of  straw,  drawn  by  six  power- 
ful horses  driven  by  soldiers;  other  wagons  loaded 
with  provisions;  a  long  train  on  the  siding  bearing 
munitions  of  war  covered  with  canvas;  two  coffins 
resting  on  the  station  platform,  and  one  more  borne 
by  four  stalwart  soldiers;  along  the  central  street 
houses  smashed  and  crumpled;  in  an  open  space  some 
two  hundred  sturdy,  bearded,  middle-aged,  grave- 
faced  men  in  long  black  uniform  overcoats,  with  black 
leather  caps  bearing  gold  crosses  above  the  peaks — all 


22       WHAT   IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

these  are  signals  of  your  approach  to  the  still  distant 
fighting  zone. 

Yet,  absurd  paradox,  just  beyond  the  town  a  flock 
of  sheep  grazing;  in  a  near-by  field  a  peasant  plowing; 
on  a  roadway  a  steam  roller  grunting  back  and  forth 
in  its  leveling  toil.  And  then,  again,  just  beyond, 
scores  of  provision  wagons  ranged  in  military  orderli- 
ness. 

But  those  three  coffins,  burnished  oak  affairs  with 
drooping  gold  wreaths  along  their  sides !  They  bear 
the  bodies  of  those  killed  in  battle  whose  relatives  have 
been  fortunate  enough  to  find  and  retrieve  them  from 
the  welter  of  the  slain — only  the  other  day  a  father 
had  told  you  of  his  long  but  futile  search  for  a  missing 
son. 

Or  perhaps  in  these  cofHns  rest  the  bodies  of  princes, 
who  also  were  soldiers  and  officers  and  who  died 
fighting  at  the  front — eight  of  these  highest  born  have 
already  paid  this  crimson  and  heroic  tribute  to  their 
country. 

And  those  serious- faced,  big-framed,  bewhiskered 
men  in  black  uniforms.  They  are  the  Landsturm 
— solid  citizens,  fathers  of  families,  doing  guard  duty 
at  the  bridges  along  the  roads,  but  splendid  soldiers  if 
ever  the  time  comes  when  they  are  needed  in  trench  or 
battery  pit. 

The  crumpled  houses  of  Dinant  or  shell-riddled 
Givet  fail  to  produce  any  reaction  of  astonishment 
when  you  reach  them,  so  much  have  you  seen  already 
of  the  furrowing  of  war's  rude  plowshare.  The  tear- 
ing, smashing  work  of  the  German  artillery  on  Civet's 
picturesque  fortress,  perched  high  above  the  River 


French  bridge  "built  for  the  eternities,  blown  into  gigantic 
fragments"  by  the  retreating  French;  steel  structure  quickly  but 
strongly  built  by  the  Germans  to  replace  it;  barb  wire  entangle- 
ment to  check  possible  night  attempt  to  dynamite  bridge. 


GERMAN  TRENCH  AND  BATTERY   23 

Meuse,  does  give  a  slight  start — here  you  stand  in 
what  once  was  supposed  to  be  a  bomb-proof  under- 
ground chamber,  now  open  to  the  sky,  its  futile  yards 
of  masonry  and  earth  protection  blown  to  the  winds 
or  toppled  into  the  chamber  itself,  covering  the  bodies 
of  French  artillerymen,  who  now  lie  buried  beneath 
the  debris  before  you;  there  you*pick  up  a  large  slab 
from  a  German  melinite  shell,  its  splintered  edges 
knifelike  in  their  sharpness,  to  bring  home  as  a  souve- 
nir. How  it  must  have  torn  and  cut  and  smashed! 
It  is  but  one  of  many  similar  slivers  from  a  single 
shell. 

But,  strange  psychology,  you  are  more  attracted  by 
the  phenomenon  of  fresh  and  growing  life  surround- 
ing this  havoc  than  you  are  by  the  cannon's  heavy 
handiwork.  The  pale  green  of  winter  wheat,  already 
coloring  faintly  the  fields  below,  astonishes  you  more 
than  the  huge  pockmarks  dug  on  their  faces  by  the 
high  explosives. 

All  about  life  has  overtaken  death — even  the  slope 
from  which  the  fortress  hill  rises  is  freshly  plowed. 
An  earnest,  this,  of  what  you  are  soon  to  behold  even 
when  beneath  the  monstrous  missiles  of  great  guns 
screaming  over  your  head.  Life,  the  vitality  of  nature 
and  the  heart  of  man,  triumphant  over  death's  tempo- 
rary ravaging! 

And  so  on  to  Lille ;  the  ponderous  arches  of  mighty 
bridges  which  the  French  had  built  for  the  eternities, 
but  which,  in  their  retreat,  they  had  blown  into  gigan- 
tic fragments,  tumbled  grotesquely  about  you;  rising 
above  you,  the  equally  strong  steel  structures  with 
which  the  German  engineers  already  have  replaced 


24       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

them;  the  wire  entanglements  in  process  of  construc- 
tion before  your  eyes  by  German  soldiers;  an  aero- 
plane flying  so  high  above  you  that  it  looks  like  a 
great  bird — all  these  you  note  with  less  interest  than 
peasants  plowing  in  the  fields,  a  boy  unloading  straw 
from  a  wagon,  cows  grazing  on  the  winter  herbage, 
clusters  of  chickens  voraciously  busy  in  the  barn- 
yards. 

And  so  you  come  to  the  firing-line,  the  trenches  and 
the  batteries,  the  snap  of  rifle,  the  rattling  chuckle  of 
the  mitrailleuses,  the  heavy  voices  of  the  mortars. 

The  night  is  still  thick  when  the  military  automobile 
starts  with  you  in  its  swift  journey  to  the  trenches. 
No  lights  glow  in  the  windows  of  villages,  whose  in- 
habitants are  not  yet  astir.  You  hear  the  crowing  of 
a  cock  even  above  the  noise  of  the  auto,  and  once  a 
little  dog  rushes  out,  barking  his  impotent  defiance.  A 
curious  portent  hangs  in  the  sky — the  morning  star — 
shining  with  such  a  vast  circumference  that  you  insist 
that  it  is  no  star  at  all,  but  a  military  arc  lamp,  sus- 
pended by  some  uncanny  wizardry  of  war. 

At  a  crossing  of  roads  in  the  open  country  the  auto- 
mobile is  halted.  Figures  approach  with  electric  lights 
glowing  from  their  breasts,  like  uncanny  beings  from 
another  world.  They  are  the  officers  you  met  at 
dinner  many  miles  away  early  in  this  very  night,  yet 
long  since  on  duty  at  the  outposts. 

Finally,  as  dawn  breaks  and  the  countryside  un- 
rolls, you  enter  a  little  hamlet.  The  opposing  cannon 
have  already  begun  their  hoarse  and  throaty  quarrel. 
You  go  into  a  church,  the  walls  of  which  have  as  many 
openings  made  by  guns  as  they  have  windows  fash- 
ioned by  architect  and  mason.  From  piles  of  litter 


you  pick  up  a  dust  covered  prayer-book  lying  in  melan- 
choly neglect. 

You  climb  the  church  tower  by  a  staircase  and  then 
by  iron  ladder,  held  steadily  by  soldiers  as  you  mount, 
until  you  sit  upon  the  beams  from  which  the  church 
bell  swings.  Then,  through  the  great  slats,  you  look 
upon  the  French  and  German  trenches,  startlingly 
near,  and  behold  the  region  where  the  contending 
artillery  are  planted,  though  you  can  not  detect  a  single 
battery,  so  perfectly  are  they  hidden. 

"Be  careful !  Don't  show  yourself,  or  we  may  get 
a  shot !"  comes  a  warning  voice  behind  you. 

And  now  for  the  trenches  themselves.  The  can- 
non's continuous  booming  no  longer  greatly  impresses 
you ;  but  the  Schutzengraben  hold  for  you  a  tingle  of 
expectation.  Down  the  village  street  you  walk  on  to  a 
broad  road  bordered  by  woods;  the  crack  and  rattle  of 
rifle  firing  smites  your  ear  as  if  coming  from  just 
around  the  corner. 

Between  two  groups  of  buildings  there  is  a  short 
open  space.  The  officers  stoop  low  as  they  cross  this 
exposed  point  and  bid  you  do  the  like;  for  standing 
erect  means  being  seen  by  the  enemy  and  an  invitation 
to  the  French  marksmen  to  try  their  skill  on  you.  You 
feel  ridiculous  as  you  assume  this  absurd  posture;  it 
seems  so  unnecessary. 

Then  another  unobstructed  space  which  you  pass, 
up  to  your  knees  in  mud  and  water,  by  means  of  a 
trench,  which  conceals  you,  and  so  down  to  a  tiny 
cup  in  the  hills,  where  a  brick  house  stands,  one  room 
for  trench  reserves  waiting  their  turn  and  another  for 
the  company's  officers — the  captain  a  good-looking 
young  lawyer.  For,  as  you  are  to  find,  men  of  all 


26       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

professions,  of  every  calling,  are  in  Germany's  battle 
line — writers  and  shoemakers,  poets  and  bricklayers, 
masters  of  great  business  concerns  and  their  em- 
ployees, university  professors  and  tailors,  blacksmiths 
and  opera  singers,  many  of  them  volunteers — a  very 
democracy  of  war. 

Wet  and  muddy  overcoats  hang  on  trees  or  are 
spread  on  bushes,  for,  unusual  circumstance,  the  over- 
worked clouds  have  not  poured  out  their  Niagaras  for 
three  hours  or  more,  and  once,  for  a  moment,  the  sun 
actually  has  shown  his  tardy  and  shamefaced  visage. 

The  garrulous  and  multitudinous  voices  of  the  rifles 
are  very  close  at  hand,  just  over  the  crest  of  the  hill 
which  you  even  now  are  climbing.  You  can  detect 
plainly  the  different  sides  of  this  leaden  debate,  and 
know  that  a  far  heavier  fire  is  coming  from  one  set 
of  trenches  than  from  the  other.  It  is  the  French 
who  are  burning  this  extra  powder,  you  are  told, — 
they  are  shooting  at  least  five  shots  to  every  one  fired 
by  their  German  foe.  You  would  have  the  reason. 

"It  is  nervousness,"  remarks  a  German  major,  who, 
by  the  way,  speaks  English  without  accent,  and  whose 
relationship  is  American.  "Nerves  and  an  oversensi- 
tive imagination.  Our  French  friends  can  not  hold 
themselves  in,  it  appears.  I  do  not  say  this  in  unkind- 
ness,  for  they  are  brave  men,  but  perhaps  more  emo- 
tional and  less  steady  than  our  men." 

What  was  this?  "French  friends!"  And  this 
from  a  German  officer  wearing  the  iron  cross  won  by 
gallantry  in  action!  "French  friends"  and  a  compli- 
ment, with  only  the  gentlest  criticism,  from  one  of 
those  Bavarians  whose  traditional  ferocity  when  in 


GERMAN    TRENCH    AND    BATTERY      27 

battle  has  elicited  anew  the  attention  of  the  world! 
These  chance  remarks  switch  your  thought  from 
plunging  bullet  and  rifle  pit  even  as  you  mount  toward 
them.  "French  friends !"  And  spoken  in  unmistak- 
able tones  of  friendliness  amid  such  scenes! 

And  so  at  last  to  the  trenches,  the  real  fighting 
trenches.  You  zigzag  to  them  through  similar  ap- 
proaching channels.  Five  feet  deep,  at  least,  they  are, 
with  an  additional  foot  and  a  half  of  earth  dug  from 
them  and  ridged  above  them  on  the  side  facing  the 
enemy,  serving  as  an  added  protection  for  the  riflemen. 

Just  before  entering  the  fighting  ditches  you  see  an 
underground  room  hollowed  from  the  earth.  You 
are  told  to  go  in  if  you  like,  and  as  you  cross  this 
warrior  threshold  you  read  these  words  written  on  a 
board  nailed  to  the  wooden  lintel : 

"Villa  Ruheort — The  Hearthstone  Is  More  Precious 
than  Gold." 

It  is  the  quarters  of  noncommissioned  officers  in 
charge  of  this  particular  firing  squad.  Clean  dry  straw 
carpets  the  earthen  floor.  A  large  cracked  mirror 
stands  on  a  crude  stool-like  table,  on  which  are  lying 
two  or  three  books.  One  of  them  is  on  Wagner,  an- 
other a  play  by  Hauptmann.  Two  of  these  military 
earth  dwellers  are  within  and  greet  you  pleasantly. 

Through  the  trenches  themselves  you  flounder,  with 
mud  or  water  or  their  slimy  combination  slushing  far 
up  about  your  legs.  You  stoop,  under  orders,  every 
now  and  again  when,  walking  over  a  caved-in  lump 
of  earth,  your  head  if  unbent  is  brought  above  the 
surface  and  in  sight  of  the  keen-eyed  French  sharp- 
shooters— you  will  get  a  shot  if  they  see  your  cap. 


28       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

You  pass  the  men  who  are  doing  the  fighting.  Here 
and  there  they  have  made  benches  or  footholds,  on 
which  they  stand,  an  inch  or  two  above  the  trench's 
slush.  Apertures,  perhaps  six  inches  wide  by  two 
deep,  made  by  pieces  of  wood,  appear  in  the  loose 
earth  piled  above  the  trench,  looking  toward  the 
enemy. 

Through  these  the  soldiers  scan  the  opposing  line, 
and  they  fire  when  an  unwary  or  curious  head  comes 
into  view,  although  most  of  the  shooting  is  done  with 
rifle  resting  on  the  top  of  the  earth  ridge  of  the  trench. 
You  look  yourself  and  see  the  French  trenches  quite 
plainly  with  the  naked  eye ;  indeed,  they  are  not  a  hun- 
dred yards  away.  A  little  farther  on  the  hostile  lines 
are  only  forty  or  fifty  yards  apart.  A  clump  of  trees 
crests  a  gentle  elevation  a  short  distance  behind  the 
French  rifle  line,  and  here  French  machine  guns  are 
in  watchful  hiding. 

The  rifle  firing,  sometimes  only  a  p-f-1-o-t !  p-f-1-o-t ! 
and  again  so  frequent  that  it  is  like  scores  of  giant 
firecrackers  exploded  by  a  single  fuse,  seems  only  a 
few  feet  away  from  where  you  stand.  Yet  the  sol- 
diers by  your  side  do  no  firing;  no  bullets  whistle  over 
you;  no  one  near  you  is  wounded  or  killed,  and  a 
curious  feeling  of  unreality  and  play-acting  steals  over 
you. 

You  have  a  most  unworthy  and  brutal  feeling  that 
you  are  being  cheated.  You  fervently  hope  that  no 
one  will  be  hit,  no  one  wounded  or  killed.  And 
yet.  "Well,  if  somebody  is  sure  to  be  shot  in  the 
trenches  to-day,  if  this  be  fate's  unchangeable  decree, 
let  it  be  now,  when  I  can  see,  and  not  half  an  hour 


German  fighting  trench  near  Arras,  France,  January  8,  1915. 
The  French  trenches  are  from  forty  to  an  hundred  yards  away. 
The  good-humored  faces  and  excellent  physical  condition  of  the 
German  soldiers  are  notable.  Heavy  rifle  firing  a  few  feet  beyond; 
"sometimes  only  a  p-f-1-o-t !  p-f-1-o-t !  and  again  so  frequent 
that  it  is  like  scores  of  giant  firecrackers  exploded  by  a  single  fuse." 


GERMAN    TRENCH    AND    BATTERY      29 

later,  when  I  shall  be  gone" — so  runs  your  almost  sub- 
conscious thought.  You  feel  under  obligation  to  your 
editor  to  miss  no  red  event. 

But  the  kindly  smiles,  the  good-humored  faces,  the 
expression  of  physical  contentment  which  comes  of 
being  well  fed  and  cared  for !  Once  more  your  men- 
tal processes  about-face  from  the  clamor  of  hostilities 
toward  this  new  view-point.  You  forget  the  dramatic 
phase  and  go  to  wondering  about  these  brawny,  cheer- 
ful-looking soldiers.  And  what  astonishing  educa- 
tion— you  fall  in  conversation  later  on  in  an  hour  of 
leisure  with  one  about  Chamberlin's  books.  He  speaks 
English  perfectly. 

Before  leaving  by  a  zigzag  exit,  exactly  like  your 
approach,  you  note  and  carefully  examine  little  cham- 
bers or  dens  dug  in  the  earth  of  the  trench's  wall, 
always  on  the  side  toward  the  enemy.  They  are  per- 
haps seven  feet  long,  four  feet  wide,  three  feet  deep, 
the  roof  and  sides  kept  from  caving  in  by  wooden  sup- 
ports. The  cold,  hard  earthen  floor  is  softened  and 
warmed  by  thick  layers  of  clean  dry  straw;  a  flap  of 
canvas  or  gunnysack  shields  the  entrance  from  day- 
light and  the  chilly  air. 

Into  one  after  another  of  these  firing-line  bedcham- 
bers you  peer,  and  in  every  one  a  soldier  is  fast  asleep, 
fully  clad,  even  to  boots,  overcoat  and  cap.  You  have 
not  intruded,  for  nothing  so  trivial  as  the  poking  about 
of  a  civilian  investigator  awakens  these  war  sleepers. 

Thus  you  learn  part  of  the  routine  of  these  particu- 
lar trenches — twenty- four  hours  in  these  Schutzen- 
groben,  two  hours  watching  and  firing,  four  hours 
sleeping  in  the  cubby-holes;  then  two  hours  of  duty 


30       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

on  foot  again,  and  so  on;  then  forty-eight  hours 
of  rest  in  buildings,  if  any  are  near  by,  or,  if  not,  in  the 
equally  comfortable,  big,  semi-underground,  roomy 
bunk  places;  then  three  days  of  real  rest  a  little  farther 
back,  but  still  within  quick  call ;  then  three  more  days 
in  some  comparatively  distant  yet  neighboring  village 
still  farther  in  the  rear,  where  the  soldier  alternates 
between  enjoying  himself  and  plowing  the  fields  if  the 
French  peasants  are  not  already  performing  that  task. 

And  then  back  to  the  trenches  again,  and  the  same 
routine  of  service  and  repose.  This  routine  is  not 
uniform — it  varies  with  different  armies,  even  with 
various  divisions. 

And  here  is  a  problem  for  the  psychologist  burrow- 
ing his  mole-like  way  into  the  hidden  causes  of  human 
action  and  preference — the  men  are  anxious  to  get 
back  from  the  safety  and  comfort  of  village  life  or 
cozy  subterranean  comradeship  to  the  danger  and  dis- 
comfort of  the  fighting  pit.  You  do  not  in  the  least 
understand  this  soldier  choice,  but  you  feel  it  vaguely 
yourself  long  before  you  are  told  it.  For,  lunching 
an  hour  later,  some  miles  away,  with  the  general  com- 
manding that  corps  and  his  staff,  in  a  big  attractive 
house  in  perfect  safety  amid  engaging  companionship, 
you  are  ashamed  to  find  that  you  are  not  as  apprecia- 
tive as  courtesy  demands  and  justifies. 

You  wish  you  were  back  there  in  the  rain  and  mud, 
the  impolite  snap  of  rifles  in  your  ears,  bitten  by  the 
tang  of  the  unusual  and  perilous.  Can  it  be  that  war 
has  its  ultimate  roots  in  the  far  depths  of  human  na- 
ture? Can  it  be  man's  blind  method  of  relief 
from  soul-rotting,  spirit-quenching  monotony?  Can 


GERMAN  TRENCH  AND  BATTERY   31 

it  be  that  the  fuse  which  explodes  the  destroying  shell 
also  tears  apart  those  gold  and  silken  meshes  with 
which  convention  and  the  ordinary  wrap,  mummy- 
like,  the  intellect  and  aspirations  of  man?  Can  it  be — 
hideous  and  forbidding  thought! — that  the  ages  have 
found  no  better  way  than  this  of  stirring  the  waters 
of  the  soul  from  the  stagnation  of  routine? 

You  would  make  acquaintance  with  the  great  guns 
whose  booming  voice  is  never  still,  seems  never  weary ; 
you  would  listen  more  closely  to  the  argument  of  the 
artillery — and  here  luck  favors  you.  It  so  happens 
that  an  officer,  with  American  relationships,  has  charge 
of  a  wide  round  of  inspection  as  the  direct  representa- 
tive of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army.  You 
had  met  him  at  dinner  and  found  him  attractive,  quiet, 
an  formed,  cordial. 

"Come  along  with  me  if  you  like.  I  shall  be  glad 
to  have  you,"  says  this  major-adjutant. 

"I  should  like  it  very  much,  but  won't  my  being  with 
you  interfere  with  your  duties?" 

"Not  in  the  least,"  he  replies,  "and  you  really  may 
happen  to  see  something." 

You  find  that  a  painter  of  German  battle  scenes, 
who  is  in  high  favor  with  the  German  army,  men  and 
officers  alike,  also  is  going.  He  speaks  English  per- 
fectly, which  adds  to  your  momentary  and  accidental 
good  fortune.  So  away  plunges  the  great  military 
auto  over  the  perfect  roads  of  France  toward  the 
sound  of  the  cannonade,  which  grows  louder  and 
clearer  with  every  turn  of  the  flying  wheels.  A  square 
white  tower,  like  an  ancient  castle  with  a  quaint  French 
village  clustered  about  it,  rises  from  among  the  trees. 


32       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

"We  are  using  that  as  our  observation  point — we 
shall  be  able  to  see  the  whole  field  from  there,"  ex- 
plains the  officer. 

The  few  inhabitants  of  the  village  are  walking  about 
quite  unconcernedly,  attending  to  their  daily  tasks,  the 
thunder  of  the  guns  long  since  a  twice-told  tale  to 
them  and  now  a  part  of  their  ordinary  life.  Many 
German  soldiers  are  in  the  streets — again  you  note 
their  healthful  appearance  and  the  good  humor  of 
their  faces. 

An  elderly  French  peasant  walks  by,  lifting  his  cap 
to  the  German  officers,  who  return  his  greeting  with 
civility.  A  French  woman  stands  in  a  doorway,  hold- 
ing in  her  arms  a  laughing  child. 

Now  you  go  on  to  the  tower  and  find  yourself  on 
its  flat,  railed-in  roof,  where  a  glass  of  the  highest 
power,  mounted  on  a  tripod,  sweeps  the  whole  coun- 
try and  brings  the  far  distance  almost  beneath  your 
feet.  Through  these  lenses  a  town  which  you  can  see 
with  your  naked  eye  appears  to  be  within  a  five  min- 
utes' saunter  from  where  you  stand — you  can  make 
out  the  details  of  a  ruined  brick  house  standing  at  the 
town's  edge. 

In  the  distance,  to  the  right,  white  cathedral  spires 
rise  like  a  beautiful  unreality.  The  edifice  is  be- 
ing shelled  because  the  French  are  using  it  for  ob- 
servation purposes,  precisely  as  the  Germans  are  em- 
ploying the  tower  on  which  you  stand.  This  latter, 
however,  is  of  no  artistic  value  or  historic  interest,  and 
has  no  sacred  uses.  You  wonder  why  the  French  do 
not  shell  it,  for  it  is  in  possible  range  of  their  heaviest 


GERMAN   TRENCH   AND   BATTERY      33 

ordnance.  Also,  it  is  the  point  from  which  the  effect 
of  the  German  explosives  is  noted  and  directions  tele- 
phoned to  the  widely  scattered  batteries. 

"You  see  that  smoke?  It  is  one  of  the  French 
shells  exploding,"  you  are  told  as  a  pallid  cloud  sud- 
denly arises  from  a  field  a  considerable  distance  to 
your  right.  Then  you  note  another  and  still  another 
of  these  flowers  of  conflict. 

And  always  the  harsh  but  not  repellent  crash  of  the 
cannon's  barbaric  orchestration!  Yes,  and  the  green 
of  recurring  life  in  the  fields  where  this  iron  dispute 
is  going  forward,  the  tender  sproutings  of  the  young 
wheat  in  patches  here  and  there ! 

Yet  no  crimson  event  strikes  your  eye,  and  once 
more  you  feel  that  nothing  really  is  happening.  There 
is  not  much  of  hazard,  you  think,  in  going  to  the  bat- 
teries themselves. 

On  your  way  through  the  village  the  foolish  and 
impossible  thought  strikes  you :  "I  wish  some  of  these 
villagers  spoke  English !"  And  you  utter  that  absurd 
remark. 

"Why,  there  is  one,"  answers  the  German  physician 
in  medical  charge  at  that  point.  "There  is  a  peasant 
girl  who,  I  believe,  learned  a  little  English  somehow. 
Her  family's  house  is  just  around  the  corner.  Go  talk 
to  her,  if  you  wish." 

You  find  that  the  girl  in  question  lives  with  her 
mother,  aunt  and  younger  brother,  in  a  typical  house 
of  the  French  peasant.  Neither  she  nor  any  of  the 
inmates  seems  alarmed;  plainly  they  are  on  good 
terms  with  the  German  invaders. 


34       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"Do  these  Germans  treat  you  well?"  you  question. 

"Oh,  yes,  we  are  well  treated,"  she  makes  out  to  say 
in  her  broken  English. 

"You  do  not  fear  them,  then?" 

"No,  not  now.  But  we  feared  them  very  much 
before  they  came." 

"You  say  they  have  treated  you  well — but  have  they 
done  anything  for  you?" 

"When  they  came  we  had  very  little  left  to  eat. 
The  captain  of  the  German  light  cavalry  had  his  sol- 
diers bake  bread  for  us,  and  gave  it  to  the  people  of 
the  village.  We  all  thought  that  kind,"  the  young 
woman  stumblingly  informs  you  with  difficulty,  so  bad 
is  her  little  English,  of  which  she  is  very  proud  how- 
ever. 

"How  will  you  live  through  this  year?" 

"We  have  a  field  which  my  brother,  who  is  only 
fifteen,  and  an  old  servant  will  cultivate.  The  Ger- 
mans have  let  us  have  two  horses  for  plowing  and 
other  work." 

But  this  comes  too  pat;  you  are  afflicted  with  the 
plague  of  suspicion.  You  wish  one  of  these  peasants 
spoke  your  tongue;  very  well!  presto!  your  desire  is 
at  hand.  It  is  altogether  too  perfect.  You  will  have 
none  of  it — these  Germans  have  overdone  it,  you  feel ; 
and  you  experience  a  sensation  of  resentment.  You 
are  offended  that  they  should  impose  upon  your  intel- 
ligence. But  subsequent  occurrences  make  it  appear 
not  improbable  that  you  are  oversuspicious. 

For  a  similar  incident  two  days  later  could  not  possi- 
bly have  been  "arranged."  Your  interpreter,  speaking 
many  tongues,  is  with  you  on  this  second  occasion — 


German  officers  watching  effect  of  artillery  duel  before  Arras, 
France,  January  8,  1915.  "The  harsh  but  not  repellent  crash  of 
the  cannon's  barbaric  orchestration."  In  the  French  village 
below  the  people  are  going  about  their  daily  affairs  as  if  nothing 
unusual  were  happening. 


GERMAN  TRENCH  AND  BATTERY   35 

you  have  brought  him  from  America  and  know  his 
reliability — he  is  of  excellent  American  family  in  your 
own  town.  (And  let  no  investigator  go  to  all  the 
warring  countries  without  such  a  dependable  aid  un- 
less he,  himself,  speaks  all  the  languages.) 

You  are  passing  through  the  only  place  in  France 
where,  as  you  are  told,  savagery  has  been  practised  on 
German  wounded — seventy  disabled  soldiers  lying 
helpless  in  the  town  hall  were  murdered  you  are  in- 
formed. Their  graves  are  near  the  outskirts,  marked 
with  simple  wooden  crosses. 

As  a  punishment  and  a  warning  against  such  prac- 
tises in  the  future,  the  Germans  shelled  the  village, 
having  first  told  the  inhabitants  to  leave  temporarily. 
The  Germans  think  the  murders  were  committed  by 
ruffians  and  acquit  the  general  French  population  of 
the  crime.  But  they  will  have  no  more  of  it,  no  mat- 
ter who  did  the  deed. 

You  are  making  photographs  of  the  ruins.  One 
picturesque  point  can  only  be  had  from  the  upper  win- 
dows of  an  opposite  building.  The  German  officers 
have  no  idea  of  what  you  wish  or  mean  to  do.  A 
French  family,  minus  its  men,  is  lodged  within.  The 
mother  gives  you  permission  and,  the  photograph  suc- 
cessfully taken,  you  talk  with  her.  She  holds  a  child, 
two  or  three  years  old,  on  her  lap. 

She  admits  she  was  terrified  before  the  Germans 
.?ame;  but  they  have  treated  her  and  everybody  well, 
she  informs  you,  and  she  fears  them  no  longer.  The 
soldiers  like  her  little  girl  especially,  she  says.  One 
stopped  and  had  supper  with  them  once,  and  after- 
ward played  with  the  child  for  a  long  time.  When 


36       WHAT,   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

he  went  away  they  thought  of  course  that  they  would 
never  see  him  again — so  many  soldiers  pass  through 
their  village!  They  were  sorry  for  this,  for  they 
liked  him. 

A  week  later  the  little  girl  was  playing  on  the  door- 
step when  suddenly  she  gave  a  joyous  cry  at  the  sight 
of  a  passing  German  soldier,  and  held  out  her  arms 
to  him.  It  was  her  friend  of  the  week  before  who 
was  looking  for  the  house  where  his  tiny  playmate 
lived.  He  wanted  to  see  her  again,  and  have  a  romp 
with  her — she  was  like  his  own  little  girl  back  in  Ger- 
many !  So,  no,  indeed,  they  did  not  fear  the  Germans 
any  more — nobody  in  that  town  did,  the  child's  mother 
said. 

This  incident  could  not  have  been  "fixed  up"  or 
"staged"  by  any  possibility. 

Once  more  that  day  a  chance  event  bears  the  same 
testimony.  Nobody  could  have  foreseen  it.  The  sheer- 
est accident  brings  it  to  your  attention.  It  happens  in  a 
town  some  thirty  miles  southeast  of  Lille,  France, 
through  which  your  auto  is  speeding.  In  an  elevated 
garden,  the  stone  wall  of  which  is  a  few  feet  above  the 
street,  is  a  row  of  German  soldiers.  They  are  con- 
valescing from  wounds  and  almost  fit  for  the  firing- 
line  once  more.  On  the  sidewalk  beneath  are  a  score  of 
French  children. 

Between  the  soldiers  and  the  children  a  sort  of  frolic 
is  going  forward.  The  soldiers  are  throwing  bits  of 
chocolate  to  the  children,  calling  out  to  them  endearing 
names,  and  the  little  ones  are  accepting  and  reciprocat- 
ing both.  So  conspicuous  is  the  mutual  friendliness 
that,  although  your  automobile  is  more  than  an  hour 


GERMAN  TRENCH  AND  BATTERY   37 

late  on  a  schedule  to  Grand  Headquarters,  you  yet  per- 
sist in  turning  back  for  a  little  while  to  get  kodak  pic- 
tures of  this  comradery  between  the  invaders  and  the 
children  of  the  invaded. 

But  let  us  return  to  our  trip  to  the  batteries. 

We  draw  near  Arras,  France,  the  town  you  had  seen 
from  the  tower.  It  is  still  held  by  the  French,  whom 
the  Germans  have  not  yet  been  able  to  dislodge. 

"We  had  better  stop  the  auto  here,"  remarks  the 
adjutant  as  we  come  near  the  top  of  a  slight  elevation 
in  the  road.  "They  can  see  us  in  a  moment  more,  and 
they  might  shell  us." 

So  along  the  road  we  go  on  foot,  down  the  gentle 
slope.  Broad  it  is,  and  well  made,  beautifully  bor- 
dered with  poplars. 

At  the  foot  of  the  long  easy  hill,  toward  the  town,  a 
house  is  burning.  German  soldiers  are  extinguish- 
ing the  flames.  Across  the  road  are  three  semi-under- 
ground, big  rooms,  where  the  soldiers  from  trench  and 
battery  spend  their  time  when  not  at  the  guns  or  on 
the  firing-line.  The  roofs  are  hidden  by  growing  vege- 
tation, like  that  of  the  surrounding  fields. 

"Let  us  go  to  a  battery  now,"  said  the  major-adju- 
tant, making  his  rounds;  and  across  beet  fields  we 
walk,  the  heavens  above  and  about  us  clamorous 
with  thunder  not  native  to  the  skies.  You  note  a 
wooden  cross  at  the  head  of  a  mound,  and  then  an- 
other ;  and  you  recall  that  you  have  seen  many  of  these, 
but  have  not  especially  marked  them,  so  strident  was 
the  call  of  interest  to  more  insistent  things. 

They  locate  the  spot  where  German  soldiers,  officers 
and  men  alike,  now  sleep  and  will  forever  sleep.  But 


38       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

why  so  few  ?  For  you  are  treading  the  soil  of  a  battle- 
field where  thousands  fell  not  so  very  long  ago.  You 
find  that  each  of  these  crosses  is  not  for  the  grave  of 
one  man,  but  for  many,  for  very,  very  many. 

Again  the  psychology  of  life  triumphing  in  thought 
and  feeling  over  death;  for  these  graves  do  not  op- 
press nor  shock — they  seem  a  matter  of  course — and 
live  men  are  by  your  side  and  about  you  the  fertile 
soil  with  its  prophecy  of  harvest  to  sustain  yet  more 
life! 

The  fields  are  sown  with  metal  testimony  of  the 
battle;  you  pick  up  two  conical  objects,  fuses  which 
exploded  shells,  and  put  them  in  your  pocket  to  carry 
home. 

"What  are  those  two  men?"  you  ask,  pointing  to 
two  soldiers  standing  behind  a  mound  of  earth. 

"Range  finders  for  the  battery,"  is  the  answer.  "We 
shall  be  there  in  a  moment." 

"What  battery?" 

"The  one  before  you !     Don't  you  see  it?" 

"No;  I'll  be  hanged  if  I  do!"  and  your  unpractised 
eye  does  not  detect  the  guns  twenty  yards  away. 

"Why,  there  it  is — right  in  front  of  you !" 

Then  you  do  observe  three  pits,  but  see  no  guns  as 
yet ;  and  you  think  these  the  entrance  to  another  type  of 
underground  soldiers'  villa.  But  you  walk  forward 
and  soon  touch  the  bulky  breeches  of  the  cannon.  The 
pits,  or  holes,  for  these  particular  pieces  are  perhaps 
three  feet  deep  and  may  be  twelve  by  twelve  in  length 
and  breadth.  A  narrow  passage  ten  feet  in  length 
leads  to  an  underground  chamber  where  the  men 


GERMAN  TRENCH  AND  BATTERY   39 

sleep  and  rest  when  not  serving  their  weapons.  It  is 
not  uncomfortable. 

This  underground  room  and,  of  course,  the  gun 
itself  are  so  carefully  covered  over  with  poles,  ever- 
green, earth  and  vegetation  that  one  walking  toward 
the  battery  might  actually  fall  into  the  excavation  be- 
fore seeing  that  he  was  near  artillery.  But  as  no  bullet 
sped  by  you  when  in  the  trenches,  so  no  shell  falls  near 
you  now.  While  you  are  glad  that  they  do  not,  still 
you  do  not  think  very  much  about  it — you  wonder 
more  whether  a  picture  you  are  trying  to  take  with 
your  kodak  will  develop;  for  the  day  is  dark,  and  a 
slight  drizzle  has  been  falling  since  noon. 

But  you  do  wish  that  the  battery  would  get  into  ac- 
tion; you  would  like  to  have  that  experience  at  least. 
And  just  as  you  are  thinking  this — 

"Will  you  please  stand  a  little  this  way?"  politely 
asks  the  battery  commander.  "You  are  in  the  way 
of  the  range  finders,"  he  explains. 

You  step  back,  and  almost  before  you  fully  take  in 
the  fact,  the  gunners  are  in  machine-like  activity.  A 
shell  is  thrust  home. 

"Hands  to  your  ears !"  a  voice  says.  The  discharge 
takes  place. 

"You  remember  the  ruined  brick  house  you  saw 
from  the  tower?  Some  of  the  enemy  have  just  en- 
tered it ;  that  is  where  that  shell  went,"  you  are  told. 

"But  why  don't  they  shoot  at  us  ?  This  controvers> 
seems  to  be  going  on  all  about  us,  from  right  to  left, 
over  our  heads,  or  in  front  of  us.  How  does  it  happen 
that  no  shells  fall  here?" 


40       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

"Our  French  friends  have  not  yet  located  this  bat- 
tery. They  have  no  idea  that  these  guns  are  here. 
They  know  that  there  is  an  unlocated  battery,  but  they 
have  not  found  it." 

"But  they  will  find  you  in  the  end !  Suppose  they 
found  you  now  ?" 

"Oh,  well,  of  course  in  that  case !  But  that  is  not 
probable  to-day.  This  battery  has  been  here  a  fort- 
night, and  they  have  not  yet  searched  us  out." 

The  noncommissioned  officer  in  charge  of  the  gun, 
who  crawls  with  you  into  the  earthen  chamber  just 
described,  speaks  English.  He  learned  it  in  Mom- 
basa and  other  places  where  he  has  served  as  a  com- 
mercial agent.  He  is  now  a  small  merchant  on  his 
own  account. 

To  the  remark  that  he  and  all  the  men  appear  to  be 
in  fine  physical  condition,  content  and  even  happy,  he 
answers  that  their  physical  fitness  is  due  largely  to 
plenty  of  excellent  food  and  to  the  care  taken  of  them. 
As  to  their  cheerful  appearance,  he  says  that  the  men 
think  they  are  doing  well  for  Germany,  and  that  is 
enough,  he  thinks,  to  make  any  German  happy. 

"Also,"  he  remarks,  "there  is  not  a  man  of  us  com- 
mon soldiers  who  does  not  know  exactly  what  we  are 
fighting  for." 

"And  may  I  ask  what  you  are  nghting  for,  then?" 
you  flash  back  at  him  with  unguarded  impoliteness. 

His  eyes  blaze.  "Filr  Deutschland!"  The  words 
bark  at  you  with  penetrating  intentness,  which  has 
made  him  relapse  into  the  German  tongue  in  his 
emotion.  "For  the  life  of  the  German  nation!"  pick- 
ing up  his  English  again.  "Yes,  and  for  our  lives, 


Why  do  the  French  not  fire  here  ?  They  have  not  yet  found 
these  guns.  Standing  by  a  concealed  German  battery  in  an  open 
field  about  one  and  a  half  miles  before  Arras,  France,  January 
8th,  1915.  The  captor  of  Lille,  Major  Adjutant  von  Xylander 
of  the  6th  Army  in  centre.  Lively  cannonading  all  around. 


GERMAN  TRENCH  AND  BATTERY   41 

too,  and  the  lives  of  our  wives  and  children — our 
means  of  earning  our  livelihood." 

"How  long  will  the  war  last?"  you  venture  to  in- 
quire. Equally  prompt  and  spirited  comes  the  answer, 
his  already  military  straight  figure  stiffening  into  yet 
more  rigid  erectness. 

"Till  Germany  wins!     Till  England  is  beaten!" 

"But  do  you  not  want  to  go  home?" 

"Yes,  of  course,  but  not  until  Germany  wins,  not 
until  England  is  beaten !" 

And  the  guns  go  on  roaring,  the  shells  go  on  ex- 
ploding, and  nothing  really  happens. 

"What  a  waste  of  ammunition !"  you  remark. 

"Quite  true.  But  the  French  are  wasting  most  of 
it,  and  most  of  it  is  neutral  ammunition  from  neutral 
America."  An  officer  is  speaking  now,  and  he  smiles 
as  he  whips  out  his  stinging  jest.  And  yet  no  jest, 
for  already  you  have  learned  that  it  is  a  serious  con- 
viction of  German  officers,  German  soldiers,  German 
scholars,  German  business  men,  German  working  men 
at  the  front. 

Again  by  differentiating  sound  and  direction  and 
plying  questions  based  on  these,  you  learn  that,  as  in 
the  case  of  rifle  firing  in  the  morning,  so  in  artillery 
work  the  French  are  firing  many  times  to  the  Ger- 
mans' once.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  Germans 
are  not  prodigal  of  their  powder;  for  while  they  are 
infinitesimally  economical  of  everything,  they  are  not 
parsimonious  in  ammunition. 

"It  is  with  the  guns  the  same  thing  that  I  told  you 
this  morning  about  the  rifle  firing,"  patiently  re-ex- 
plains the  officer  who  was  with  you  in  the  trenches 


shortly  after  dawn.  "It  is  a  question  of  temperament, 
delicate  nerves  and  a  supersensitive  imagination  on  the 
one  side  and  strong  nerves  and  a  matter-of-fact  im- 
agination on  the  other  side.  Our  French  friends 
shoot  when  they  think  they  see  something — a  shadow 
is  enough;  or  when  they  imagine  something  which 
does  not  exist. 

"That  means  they  are  firing  almost  all  the  time. 
But  our  men  shoot  only  when  they  really  do  see  some- 
thing to  shoot  at,  or  when  we  have  figured  out  care- 
fully, and  on  a  basis  of  fact,  locations  and  movements. 
At  bottom  this  fundamental  difference  will  be  the  de- 
ciding factor  in  this  war — the  physical  basis,  plus  edu- 
cation, and  both  of  these  plus  spirit,  and  all  of  these 
plus  faith." 

Strolling  back  to  the  auto,  you  come  upon  a  field 
kitchen  on  its  journey  of  refreshment  to  the  men  whom 
you  have  just  left  and  their  comrades — an  enormous 
kettle,  holding  gallons  upon  gallons,  its  vast  lid  screwed 
tightly  down;  a  slight  fire  burning  in  the  oven  be- 
neath it;  a  stovepipe  rising  from  its  front;  the  whole 
set  on  wheels  and  making  a  large-sized  iron  wagon. 
Two  broad  horses  draw  this  field  kitchen.  Fat  and 
sleek  these  horses  are. 

The  kitchen  stops  at  command;  the  kettle's  lid  is 
unscrewed,  and  some  of  the  contents  ladled  out  for 
your  sampling,  after  the  cautious  cook,  with  culinary 
pride,  tastes  it  himself.  It  is  thick  pea  soup  with  meat 
— hot  and  steaming.  It  appeals  to  the  palate  You 
like  it  better  than  the  food  at  the  officers'  mess. 

As  you  leave  the  batteries  you  begin  to  speculate 


GERMAN    TRENCH    AND    BATTERY      43 

about  the  seeming  absence  of  real  danger.  No  living 
creature  could  be  more  anxious  than  you  not  to  be 
hurt  and  yet  you  would  like  to  know  whether  you  have 
been  in  possible  peril.  You  voice  the  thought. 

"Don't  worry  about  that,"  your  officer-host  reas- 
sures you.  "Any  one  any  place  under  fire  is  always  iii 
possible  danger.  Still,  it  is  not  great  here  and  certainly 
not  worth  thinking  about;  you  will  understand  this  if 
you  will  reflect  upon  the  number  of  shots  fired  for 
every  man  that  is  killed  or  even  hurt.  Yet,"  said  he, 
"it  is  chance,  mere  chance.  For  example,  a  few  days 
ago  one  of  our  men  was  riding  near  where  we  have 
been  to-day.  It  just  happened  that  a  shell  fell  when  and 
where  his  horse  was  ambling  along.  Well!  But  that 
only  occurs  once  in  ten  thousand  times ;  yet  in  the  ten 
thousandth  case  it  does  transpire." 

"Then  it  might  have  happened  to  us,"  you  exclaim. 

"Why,  of  course.  There  was,  as  I  say,  the  ten 
thousandth  chance.  But  here  we  are.  Still,  of 
course,  the  whole  thing  is  chance.  No  man  can  tell 
where  he  will  be  standing,  walking  or  riding  when  a 
shell  or  bullet  comes." 

The  flying  auto  takes  you  miles  upon  miles  to  an- 
other point.  At  two  villages  there  are  stops  for  inspec- 
tion duty.  The  streets  are  filled  with  soldiers.  Again  the 
robust  wholesome  appearance  of  the  men  thrusts  it- 
self toward  you  like  a  great,  strong,  hearty  hand; 
again,  too,  the  good  humor  of  the  faces  astonishes — 
you  had  expected  hardship's  shrunken  bodies  and  faces 
pinched  by  despair  and  privation. 

Now  you  pass  a  marching  company,  most  of  them 


44       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

grinning,  some  laughing  outright — evidently  the  com- 
pany humorist  has  cracked  a  joke.  Once  more  the 
same  vitality,  the  same  lusty  color  of  lip  and  cheek. 

Here  you  pass  a  large  number  of  soldiers  equipped 
in  a  manner  you  had  not  observed  before.  Some  have 
spades,  some  axes,  several  carry  boards,  a  number 
have  picks,  all  kinds  of  tools  and  implements  for  dig- 
ging and  building  are  in  the  hands  of  these  men.  They 
belong  to  the  engineering  corps,  you  are  informed; 
they  are  what  the  veterans  of  our  Civil  War  would 
call  "sappers  and  miners."  They  are  trudging  rapidly 
onward.  Their  faces  are  grave.  You  note  this  with 
surprise,  for  all  the  other  soldiers  you  have  seen  or 
will  see  in  the  next  two  days  are  of  pleasant  counte- 
nance. You  remark  upon  the  serious  look  these  men 
wear. 

"A  good  thing,  too,"  responds  the  officer  in  the  seat 
beside  you.  "For  they  have  serious  work  before  them. 
They  are  to  do  the  severest  labor  perhaps  under  heavy 
fire  and  can  do  no  firing  themselves.  Most  of  them 
are  trained  engineers  and  all  are  high-spirited  men.  I 
would  be  glum  myself  if  I  had  to  toil  while  being  shot 
at  and  could  not  answer  shot  for  shot." 

There  is  a  grating  rumble  just  ahead,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment you  overtake  and  are  passing  a  procession  of 
little  square  wagons,  all  but  two  drawn  by  six  big 
horses.  On  each  off  horse  sits  a  soldier,  his  rifle 
slung  across  his  back  ready  for  use.  There  are  twenty 
of  these  wagons.  It  is  an  ammunition  train,  going 
where  it  is  needed. 

The  end  of  the  day  has  come,  and  you  turn  into  an 
open  space  by  the  side  of  the  road. 


GERMAN    TRENCH    AND    BATTERY      45 

"Let  us  have  some  cheese  and  crackers,"  remarks 
the  corps  commander's  aide.  While  you  are  standing, 
eating,  darkness  falls  upon  you  like  a  black  cloak. 
Although  you  have  not  been  out  of  the  sound  of  small 
arms  or  cannon  the  whole  day  long,  yet  you  turn  your 
head  sharply  as  just  behind  you,  beyond  some  trees, 
the  crackle  of  heavy  infantry  fire  breaks  out. 

You  are  in  no  danger,  however,  for  although  only  a 
few  yards  away,  it  is  the  German  rifles  that  are  speak- 
ing, and  the  French  lead  will  not  come  in  your  direc- 
tion. Still  there  is  enough  shooting  to  give  interest — 
several  hundred  men  are  pulling  triggers  just  across  a 
small  field  on  the  other  side  of  the  road. 

Then,  quite  as  suddenly,  you  wheel  about  at  an  un- 
familiar series  of  explosions  of  a  regularity  you  have 
not  heard  before,  and  you  see  at  no  great  distance 
little  spurts  of  fire  so  rapid  that  they  seem  almost  a 
continuous  flame,  darting  out  like  the  red  tongues  of 
legendary  serpents.  Machine  guns  these,  but  directed 
at  an  angle  from  where  you  stand;  so  again  there  is 
no  danger,  and  again  nothing  really  happens. 

Through  the  darkness  now  the  rushing  auto  makes 
top  speed.  "Armee  Oberkommando!"  shouts  the  ma- 
jor-adjutant to  the  frequent  sentries,  and  on  you 
plunge  again.  Through  a  large  town  you  pass,  and 
on  inquiry  learn  that  it  is  one  of  the  two  biggest  min- 
ing towns  of  France;  and  this  leads  to  the  discovery 
that  the  Germans  occupy  much  the  greater  part  of 
France's  coal-mining  district. 

Here  is  another  physical  resource  which  that  part  of 
the  republic  occupied  by  the  Germans  is  yielding  the 
conquerors.  Important  items,  these,  and  you  reflect 


46       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

that  these  French  fields  are,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
feeding  the  German  army  now  in  France. 

You  have  sampled  a  portion  of  the  line  where  the 
French  oppose  the  Germans,  and  now  you  would  have 
a  look  at  another  region,  where  the  English  front  the 
German  guns.  Next  day,  then,  you  go  to  Comines, 
France,  and  beyond  on  the  road  to  Ypres.  Just  across 
the  Belgian  border  are  battery  headquarters  for  this 
artillery  section.  The  vast  noise  of  the  cannon  satu- 
rates the  atmosphere  with  a  steady  and  mighty  sound. 

"Will  you  have  a  look  at  Messines  before  going  to 
the  batteries?"  asks  a  young  artillery  captain. 

Of  course  you  will!  You  are  standing  in  a  little 
space  surrounded  on  all  sides  save  one  by  quaint  old 
buildings.  At  an  order,  some  soldiers  begin  throwing 
brush  from  a  great  contrivance  on  wheels  standing  in 
a  corner,  and  push  it  forward.  The  brush  is  to  hide 
this  object  from  the  enemy's  aeroplanes  and  their  im- 
pertinent bombs. 

This  mechanism  looks  like  a  heavy  field  piece  of  un- 
usual length,  and  you  imagine  that  it  is.  But  the 
muzzle  is  elevated  until  the  instrument  is  perpendicu- 
lar ;  and  you  think  that  they  are  going  to  shoot  at  a  foe 
of  the  skies.  A  wheel  is  turned  and  the  curious  crea- 
tion elongates  itself  many  feet  in  the  air.  There  is  a 
quick  adjustment  at  the  base,  and :  "Look,  please !" 

Stooping  to  put  your  eye  to  the  lens,  before  you  is 
the  Belgian  town  for  which  the  English  and  Germans 
are  struggling.  The  supposed  big  gun  turns  out  to  be 
the  most  modern  and  powerful  of  those  field  tele- 
scopes used  by  the  Germans  in  this  war ! 

Toward  the  batteries  pouring  their  mammoth  hail 


GERMAN  TRENCH  AND  BATTERY   47 

at  the  English  position  you  make  your  way.  You  pass 
a  great  circular  pit  in  the  earth  like  an  inverted  cone, 
twenty  feet  across  and  half  as  deep.  A  British  shell 
did  that  the  day  before.  Alongside  the  road  one  of 
the  double  row  of  bordering  trees,  perhaps  fourteen 
inches  in  diameter,  is  broken,  its  upper  half  hanging 
to  the  earth.  The  break  is  a  shatter  of  splinters. 
Yonder  is  another  tree  riven  exactly  like  the  first,  and 
a  little  farther  on,  still  another.  The  rending  in  the 
body  of  these  trees  seems  almost  at  the  same  height 
from  the  ground.  Work  of  the  English  shells. 

And  so  you  walk  on  to  a  German  battery,  whose 
guns  are  precisely  like  those  you  examined  yesterday, 
but  not  nearly  so  well  concealed.  This  battery  is  not 
in  action  for  some  reason — perhaps  the  guns  are  "rest- 
ing." Great  piles  of  shells  are  under  a  covering,  well 
concealed  from  the  side  toward  the  enemy — they  are 
ready  for  use  at  a  moment's  notice,  as  are  the  guns 
and  indeed  the  men  themselves,  who  are  standing 
about,  in  easy  preparedness,  waiting  for  the  telephone 
command.  What  if  a  shell  were  to  fall  in  that  store 
of  ammunition!  But  you  do  not  think  of  this  until 
afterward. 

A  little  way  to  your  right,  and  in  plain  view,  an- 
other battery  is  in  rapid  action.  The  English  guns 
are  answering  shot  for  shot.  Farther  off,  perhaps  a 
mile  away,  a  house  bursts  into  flames.  "That  is  an 
English  shell,"  explains  one  of  the  officers.  And  al- 
most as  he  speaks,  another  house,  near  the  first  one, 
begins  to  burn,  also  fired  by  a  British  naval  gun,  for 
these  are  warship  ordnance,  you  learn,  doing  shore 
duty. 


48       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

And  so  the  labor  of  war  goes  on.  Above  and  about 
you  sound  the  prolonged  w-h-i-n-n-n-g-g-g  of  the  fly- 
ing messengers  of  death.  The  sound  of  them  is  not 
unpleasant ;  indeed,  their  voices  are  distinctly  musical. 
You  wonder  why  some  great  composer  has  not  writ- 
ten the  song  of  the  shell. 

Such  are  average  examples  of  the  battle  front 
in  this  part  of  France  in  January  of  1915.  Not  many 
charges  or  rushes  across  open  spaces,  although  there 
are  a  few  of  these,  here  and  there,  along  the  hundreds 
of  miles  extending  from  the  sea  southward  into 
France.  The  steady  rains,  the  overflowing  streams, 
the  flooded  low  places,  the  deep  and  sticky  mud — all 
discourage  infantry  attack  or  cavalry  operations. 

You  have  felt  that  downpour,  you  have  seen  that 
surplus  water,  you  have  walked  a  great  deal  through 
that  mud  yourself,  and  you  understand  the  physical 
difficulty  leadening  the  feet  of  soldiers  rushing  a  hos- 
tile trench.  But  when  the  rains  let  up  and  the  overflow 
recedes,  and  the  ground  becomes  firm,  there  will  be 
another  story. 

"It  looks  to  an  uninformed  civilian  as  though  it 
will  be  hard  for  the  Allies  to  oust  you  from  your  posi- 
tion," you  observe. 

"Oust  us !  They  will  never  dislodge  us !  Oust  us ! 
Oust  us!!  We  shall  advance!"  snaps  back  a  Ger- 
man officer,  one  of  the  best  informed  soldiers  of  a 
certain  famous  corps.  And  when  he  explains  how 
this  can  be  done  without  great  loss  it  seems  simple 
enough.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  major  premise  of 
this  syllogism  of  expected  victory  is  temperament  and 
the  physical  basis.  On  these  the  rain  and  snow  and 


GERMAN    TRENCH    AND    BATTERY      49 

mud,  the  waiting  and  the  rifle  pit,  the  bombardment 
and  the  scream  of  shell  are  having  their  effect. 

And  so  the  world  waits  upon  the  convenience  of 
the  seasons,  when  the  soil  shall  be  made  solid  for  sac- 
rifice. Then,  out  of  the  equation  of  nerves  and  tem- 
perament, what  event  will  come  forth?  Sate  yourself 
with  speculation.  Prophesy  as  you  like.  One  man's 
opinion  is  as  good  as  another's,  no  doubt.  Proclaim, 
if  you  wish,  that  the  outcome  is  on  the  knees  of  the 
gods. 

But  the  German  soldier  thinks  that  he  knows — he 
knows  that  he  knows.  His  blood,  his  life — what  is 
that  to  him?  "Lieb  Vaterland,  magst  ruhig  sein"  he 
murmurs  in  trench  or  battery  pit,  and  sleeps  peacefully 
and  is  content. 


Ill 


THE  GERMAN  EMPEROR  AND  TWO  OF  HIS  FIGHTING 
CHIEFS* 

"T~F  IT  will  be  convenient  for  you  to  delay  your  de- 
J.  parture,  the  Emperor  will  receive  you  this  after- 
noon," politely  said  a  young  officer  attached  to  the 
Imperial  Foreign  Office.  Booted  and  spurred,  clad 
in  service  uniform,  with  sword  at  side,  the  bearer  of 
this  message  strode  hurriedly  into  the  restaurant  at 
the  railroad  station,  where  most  of  the  officers  at  the 
Grand  Headquarters  take  their  meals.  We  were  at 
luncheon,  and  the  train  was  in  the  station,  its  starting 
time  within  less  than  five  minutes.  By  so  narrow  a 
margin  did  this  good  fortune  arrive! 

I  had  suggested  to  the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire, 
Von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  at  the  end  of  our  conversa- 
tion the  evening  before,  that  it  would  be  a  pleasant  cir- 
cumstance for  me  if  I  might  meet  the  Emperor  before 
leaving  Germany.  It  was  by  the  merest  chance  that  the 
favorable  result  came  so  quickly,  or  at  all;  for  the 
Emperor  has  not  received  any  foreigner  since  the  war 
began ;  he  is  at  the  front  practically  all  of  the  time,  and 
while,  in  Germany,  all  connected  with  the  war  are  in- 
cessantly busy  with  systematic  and  methodical  pur- 

*  Written  at  Berne,  Switzerland,  February  4,  1915. 

50 


THE    GERMAN    EMPEROR  51 

pose,  yet  the  German  Emperor  himself  is  the  hardest 
worked  man  in  the  whole  Fatherland. 

Endless  conferences  and  consultations,  all  of  them 
of  the  most  serious  moment,  on  a  great  variety  of  sub- 
jects, call  upon  him  for  immense  and  never-ceasing 
labor.  Then,  too,  he  is  constantly  in  and  out  of  head- 
quarters, speeding  now  to  this  point  and  now  to  that, 
or  going  about  the  country  long  since  occupied  by  the 
German  army,  and  now  governed  by  German  admin- 
istration. 

Even  the  unsympathetic  must  admit  that  William  II 
is  at  his  task  all  the  time.  From  one  of  these  journeys, 
it  appeared,  the  Emperor  had  just  returned ;  and  thus 
came  the  lucky  opportunity  of  meeting  this  extraordi- 
nary personage,  the  most  widely  discussed,  the  most 
violently  abused  and  most  highly  praised  of  living  men 
throughout  the  world. 

Ten  minutes  past  two  in  the  afternoon  was  the  time 
when  I  was  requested  to  go  to  the  temporary  offices  of 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire.  After  some  moments 
of  conversation  with  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
Von  Jagow,  whom  I  had  seen  for  an  hour  that  morn- 
ing, the  Emperor's  aide  accompanied  me  to  the  garden 
where  the  Emperor  was  walking  with  the  Chancellor. 
At  exactly  fifteen  minutes  before  three  o'clock  I  was 
presented  to  His  Majesty. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  informal  than  this 
meeting,  and  no  one  is  or  could  be  more  democratic 
in  manner  than  was  this  so-called  "war  lord" — a  title, 
by  the  way,  which  runs  back  into  the  legendary  Teu- 
tonic history  of  the  Germanic  tribes  in  their  ancient 
forests;  and  a  title,  therefore,  which  is  thoroughly 


52       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

misunderstood  and  grotesquely  misrepresented  by  the 
non-German  world  of  the  present  day. 

Contrary  to  American  opinion,  there  is  nothing 
pompous,  nothing  even  pretentious  in  the  bearing  of 
William  II — certainly  nothing  of  the  kind  appeared 
on  this  occasion.  The  Emperor's  manner  was  the 
opposite  of  the  ostentatious;  it  was  plain,  straight- for- 
ward and  frank.  One's  first  impression  is  that  of  a 
strong  man  who  is  also  a  pleasant,  simple-mannered 
gentleman,  with  an  agreeable  personality,  charged  with 
that  engaging  quality  called  magnetism. 

One's  second  impression,  following  so  quickly  upon 
the  first  that  the  two  are  almost  one,  is  that  of  im- 
mense vigor,  abounding  physical  vitality  and  search- 
light mental  alertness.  With  it  all,  you  are  instantly 
put  at  your  ease,  although  indeed  the  psychological 
atmosphere  is  not  that  of  apprehension.  There  is  in 
the  Emperor's  demeanor  none  of  that  stiff  reserve 
with  which  so  many  public  men  cloak  their  own  fear 
of  themselves,  not  a  vestige  of  that  stilted  manner  so 
frequently  used  as  a  substitute  for  dignity. 

The  Emperor  wore  the  simple  uniform  of  the  field, 
and  about  his  shoulders  hung  the  long  gray  fur-lined 
cloak,  pictured  so  often  in  his  photographs.  His  cap 
was  the  familiar  headgear  of  the  German  officer.  The 
Imperial  Chancellor  was  clad  in  khaki-colored  uni- 
form, with  boots  and  cap.  There  was  a  notable  ab- 
sence of  decorations — so  much  so  that,  although  one 
or  two  may  have  been  worn,  they  did  not  impress 
themselves  upon  the  mind.  I  was  dressed  exactly  as 
I  was  when  visiting  the  trenches  and  batteries,  whence 
I  had  just  come. 


THE    GERMAN    EMPEROR  53 

For  two  hours  the  conversation  continued.  I  men- 
tion the  length  of  time  only  because  of  the  perfect  op- 
portunity it  gave  to  observe  the  German  Emperor  and 
because  so  long  a  walk  and  conversation,  after  a  hard 
forenoon's  work,  was  something  of  a  test  of  his  phys- 
ical endurance. 

We  walked  during  the  whole  of  this  time  in  the 
inclosed  garden  which  is  a  part  of  the  villa  occupied 
by  the  Emperor  in  the  French  town  where  the  Grand 
Headquarters  were  then  located,  a  town,  by  the  way, 
within  half  an  hour's  automobile  ride  from  Sedan. 
The  pathway  of  gravel  was  a  long  oval.  Here  and 
there  clumps  of  trees  beautified  the  grounds.  A  high 
wall,  vine-covered,  protected  the  garden  in  the  rear.  It 
was  a  gray  day,  the  sky  blanketed  with  leaden  clouds ; 
and  the  atmosphere  was  chill  and  damp. 

His  Majesty  was  within  a  little  more  than  two  weeks 
of  his  fifty-seventh  birthday.  He  did  not  look  older 
than  his  age  suggests.  The  mustache  was  gray  and 
the  hair  almost  white ;  the  gray-blue  eye  was  clear,,  its 
expression  intense  and  full  of  nervous  force.  I  had  been 
credibly  informed  that  it  is  a  mannerism  of  the  Em- 
peror to  look  at  you  piercingly  for  a  space  before 
speaking,  but  nothing  of  the  kind  occurred.  The  eye 
does  have  a  penetrating  quality;  but  if  this  experience 
was  a  fair  test,  the  staring  stories  are  untrue. 

The  complexion  was  pale  with  a  faint  tinge  of  color; 
the  lips  healthfully  red.  Under  the  eyes  were  wrinkles, 
but  not  more  nor  different  than  one  sees  on  the  faces 
of  most  active  men  of  the  Emperor's  age.  The  features 
were  not  full,  as  shown  by  portraits  of  a  year  ago; 
still  less  were  they  haggard,  as  they  appear  in  photo- 


54       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

graphs  taken  soon  after  the  war  began.  The  face  was 
lean,  rugged,  wholesome. 

The  voice  was  vibrant  and  strong,  without  the  faint- 
est trace  or  suggestion  of  weakness  or  nervous  ex- 
haustion. The  step  was  firm,  decided,  but  not  over- 
rapid;  and  at  no  time  was  there  the  slightest  indica- 
tion of  weariness.  The  carriage  was  erect,  elastic,  vig- 
orous. 

While  physically  as  well  as  mentally  the  Emperor 
showed  extraordinary  animation,  there  was  a  calmness 
and  steadiness  that  surprised  because  of  the  descrip- 
tions to  the  contrary  so  universally  published  in 
America. 

Such  was  William  II,  on  the  afternoon  of  January 
11,  1915.  Yet  only  a  short  time  before  I  had 
read  that  he  was  broken  down  physically,  that  he  was 
fatally  ill,  that  he  was  a  nervous  wreck,  and  even  that 
his  mind  was  affected  by  the  world  catastrophe  of 
which  he  is  the  central  figure.  I  am,  of  course,  not  a 
medical  observer ;  but  from  my  youth  I  have  seen  hard 
worked  men  in  every  state  from  perfect  fitness  of  body, 
nerve  and  mind,  to  a  condition  of  physical  exhaustion 
and  nervous  collapse. 

From  this  experience  in  practical  life,  if  I  had  to  do 
with  a  man,  as  friend  or  foe,  who  looked,  acted  and 
talked  as  the  German  Emperor  did  on  the  occasion  I 
have  described,  I  should  count  such  a  man  a  powerful 
force,  with  physical  resources  unimpaired,  with  mental 
strength  at  its  height. 

I  say  nothing  about  the  Emperor's  appearance  at  any 
former  time,  for  I  do  not  know,  personally ;  nor  yet  at 
any  subsequent  time,  for  again  I  do  not  know,  per- 


THE   GERMAN    EMPEROR  55 

sonally;  but  I  do  say  that  the  above  is  a  faithful  and  if 
anything  a  moderate  description  of  William  II  of  Ger- 
many, on  January  11,  1915,  for  I  do  know,  personally. 
If  this  be  his  usual  state,  and  in  Germany  I  have  not 
heard  to  the  contrary,  his  adversaries  should  not  de- 
ceive themselves ;  for  they  confront  a  powerful  man,  in 
the  maturity  of  his  strength. 

The  Emperor's  personality  is  a  composite  of  the 
engaging  and  impressive,  the  attractive  and  compel- 
ling. One  instantly  forgets  the  station  he  holds  in 
one's  interest  in  the  man.  The  mind  is  brilliant  and 
stored  with  an  amazing  fund  of  information  on  ap- 
parently every  subject.  His  careful  and  extensive 
education,  of  which  so  much  has  been  written,  is  evi- 
dent; his  trained  intellect  has  explored  surprisingly 
wide  fields  of  knowledge.  It  is  impossible  to  think  of 
William  II  as  ever  being  dull  for  an  instant ;  and  one 
can  not  conceive  of  his  being  uninformed  upon  any 
matter  of  large  statesmanship  coming  to  his  attention 
or  likely  to  be  brought  before  him.  It  is  asserted  by 
his  admirers  and  sometimes  conceded  by  his  detractors, 
even  in  hostile  countries,  that  the  Emperor  is  the  most 
thoroughly  educated  of  all  European  statesmen. 

Also,  from  personal  contact  one  can  not  honestly 
doubt  the  Emperor's  sincerity.  And  the  accounts  of 
his  deeply  religious  nature  are  so  plainly  true,  that  the 
impartial  observer  does  not  even  question  them.  The 
impression  of  cleanliness  in  mind,  character  and  con- 
duct is  irresistible  and  increasing.  One  can  not  imagine 
this  successor  of  the  Great  Frederick  as  thinking  basely 
himself,  or  tolerating  it  from  another.  One  can  con- 
ceive of  his  being  impulsive,  stern,  dominant,  aggress- 


56       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

ive,  masterful,  but  never  as  being  colorless,  vapid, 
weak-kneed,  hypocritical  or  cowardly.* 

And  it  was  universally  asserted  in  Germany  by 
friend  and  former  foe  (for  at  this  writing  the  Em- 
peror has  no  opponents  in  his  own  country)  that  Will- 
iam II  was  devoted  to  peace  above  all  things,  except 
the  safety  of  the  German  people.  "There  is  no  ques- 
tion that  the  Emperor  did  not  want  this  .war,"  said  a 
German  Socialist  who  in  the  past  has  bitterly  opposed 
the  Emperor  and  who  even  now  agrees  with  William  II 
only  in  carrying  on  the  war  until  Germany  wins.  "I 
am  fair  enough,"  said  he,  "to  concede  that  undoubtedly 
the  Emperor's  one  great  ambition  was  to  close  his 
reign  without  war.  I  believe  that  he  wished  to  be 
known  as  the  peace  Emperor." 

In  Germany  itself,  comparatively  few  if  any  can 
be  found  who  believe  the  contrary.  Many  say  that  the 

*  The  following — one  of  many  similar  descriptions — may  inter- 
est the  reader:  I  inquired  of  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  civil 
government  of  the  French  city  where  the  German  Grand  Head- 
quarters were  located  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  about  the  personal 
characteristics  of  the  Emperor.  "He  has  so  many  character- 
istics," answered  this  civil  municipal  governor,  who  spoke  Eng- 
lish as  well  as  any  American.  "From  my  own  experience,"  con- 
tinued he,  "I  should  say  that  the  chief  element  of  the  Emperor's 
character  is  kindness.  I  have  had  an  unusual  opportunity  to  ob- 
serve His  Majesty.  I  report  to  him  very  frequently — sometimes 
every  day — concerning  conditions  here.  In  this  intimate  contact 
I  have  found  that  the  Emperor's  predilection  for  kindness  is 
even  greater  than  his  sense  of  justice  which,  as  you  know,  of 
course,  is  very  rigid. 

"For  instance,"  continued  the  officer,  "here  is  a  little  personal 
fact  not  known  to  the  world  and  which  probably  never  will  be 
known  to  the  world:  If  His  Majesty  can  be  said  to  take  any 
relaxation  at  all  in  these  times,  he  takes  it  in  this  fashion — if  he 
has  an  unemployed  hour  he  likes  to  ride  out  through  the  country 
and  find  those  who  are  in  need  of  help  or  sympathy  and  then  to 
afford  them  the  craved-for  comfort  or  aid." 


THE    GERMAN    EMPEROR  57 

Emperor  had  three  opportunities  to  wage  successful 
war  against  each  of  the  countries  now  in  arms  against 
Germany. 

It  is  said  that  Russia  would  have  been  helpless  before 
a  German  onslaught  at  the  time  of  the  Russo-Japanese 
War;  that  an  ideal  opportunity  to  strike  England  was 
when  she  was  engaged  in  the  Boer  War ;  that  Germany 
would  have  had  distinct  military  advantage  over  France 
when  the  latter  was  embarrassed  with  military  diffi- 
culties in  Africa;  but  that  in  each  instance  the  Em- 
peror declined  to  act  although,  some  Germans  say, 
other  nations  urged  him  to  strike  in  two  of  these  cases. 

However  this  may  be,  one  who  tries  to  hold  the 
balance  of  judgment  fair  and  true  is  inclined,  from 
personal  study  of  the  Emperor,  to  think  that  his  nat- 
ural tendencies  are  strongly  toward  peace.  But  there 
can  be  no  question  that  now  that  his  hand  has  been 
set  to  the  plow,  he  will  not  turn  back  until  the  fur- 
row has  been  run.  In  this  he  faithfully  reflects  German 
feeling  and  purpose.  When,  at  the  outbreak  of  hos- 
tilities, the  Emperor  said,  "To  the  last  man  and  the 
last  horse,"  he  undoubtedly  meant  every  word  of  it 
and  he  expressed  in  that  now  historic  phrase  the  de- 
liberate resolve  of  the  German  nation. 

This  sketch  is  to  bring  the  German  Emperor  to  the 
understanding  of  the  American  mind,  and  is  put  in 
terms  of  Americanism,  just  as  if  describing  an  Ameri- 
can public  man.  Disagree  with  him  if  you  will;  but 
remember  that  if  you  were  to  meet  the  Emperor 
casually,  without  knowing  who  he  is,  you  would  like 
him  immensely;  and  this  liking  would  be  a  sure  step 
to  respecting  his  character  and  admiring  his  ability. 


58       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

It  will  be  useful  to  the  American  reader  who  thinks 
the  coloring  of  this  picture  too  pronounced,  if  he  will 
reflect  that  to  the  German  eye  it  will  appear  pale  and 
unappreciative.  To  the  Emperor's  supporters,  among 
the  German  people,  and  at  the  present  moment  this 
means  the  German  nation,  this  estimate  will  seem  small 
and  cold.  There  are  those  in  Germany  who  dislike  the 
Emperor  even  now ;  but  even  these  are  with  him  to  the 
uttermost  in  the  terrific  crisis  now  threatening  Ger- 
many's life;  and  the  masses  of  the  people  at  the  date 
of  this  writing,  February,  1915,  are  devoted  to  him 
with  a  fervent  and  limitless  loyalty  and  love. 

These  facts  are  mentioned  in  order  that  the  Ameri- 
can reader  may  be  advised  that  what  I  have  here  set 
down  is  not  an  overstatement  but,  on  the  contrary, 
reserved  and  guarded  and  far  within  the  limits  of  the 
truth.  When  this  is  understood,  it  will  be  plain,  even 
to  the  prejudiced,  that  much  which  has  been  written 
and  spoken  of  this  great  man  has  been  penned  or  ut- 
tered in  ignorance  or  malice. 

THE  EMPEROR'S  MASTER  FIGHTERS 
7 — Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz 

Let  us  now  consider  the  personality  and  listen  to  the 
words  of  Germany's  two  supreme  fighting  leaders  in 
the  eye  of  the  world  for  the  hour;  the  two  men  whose 
mental  power  and  force  of  character  have  made  them 
in  their  respective  spheres,  under  the  Emperor,  the 
dominating  figures  of  the  immediate  day  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  war — one  upon  the  sea;  the  other  upon 
the  land. 


THE   GERMAN   EMPEROR  59 

Although  enormously  exceeded  by  the  British  navy 
in  number  of  ships  and  guns,  yet  the  daring  and  ef- 
fectiveness of  the  German  navy,  from  the  heroic  career 
of  the  Emden  to  the  intrepid  and  skilful  audacity  of 
submarine  U  21,  have  appealed  to  the  imagination  of 
the  world;  and  now  the  submarine  blockade  of  the 
British  Isles  brings  Germany's  naval  activities  upon  the 
stage  in  dramatic  climax. 

The  war 'has  been  full  of  the  unexpected,  and  what 
surprises  the  future  holds  no  man  can  prophesy.  But 
judging  to-morrow  by  yesterday,  it  would  seem  to 
be  not  improbable  that  on  the  face  of  the  waters  and  in 
their  depths  are  to  be  played  yet  other  scenes  in  this 
mightiest  drama  of  history  of  which  no  one,  save 
the  master  playwrights,  have  yet  dreamed.* 

Perhaps  the  sea,  to  which  romance  has  been  restored 
by  ingenuity  and  dash,  will  witness  no  more  than  repe- 
titions of  what  has  already  been  enacted;  but  perhaps 
the  ocean  is  to  behold  yet  new  wonders  made  possible 
by  the  mind  and  heart  of  man — the  brain  which  can 
invent,  the  will  which  essays  all  hazards. 

Letters  to  Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  from  friends 
in  America  (none  of  whom,  by  the  way,  is  pro-Ger- 
man) assured  a  hearty  welcome  from  this  remarkable 
man  who,  under  the  Emperor,  is  the  constructive  mind 
in  the  making  of  the  German  navy,  and  in  outlining 
Germany's  sea  plans. 

Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  lived  at  the  time  the 
following  conversation  occurred  in  the  house  of  what 
was  said  to  be  a  wealthy  Frenchman,  in  the  town 
where  the  Grand  Headquarters  then  were  located.  The 

*  Written  February  4,  1915. 


60       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

dwelling  is  not  overlarge,  but  well  furnished  and  with 
many  of  those  evidences  of  refinement  which  one  ex- 
pects in  the  surroundings  of  cultivated  French  people. 
Paintings  adorn  the  walls,  and  a  life-sized  bust  of  a 
French  officer  in  the  uniform  and  cap  of  forty  years 
ago  stands  proudly  on  its  pedestal. 

In  one  corner  of  the  room  is  a  large  grand  piano, 
its  top  partly  covered  with  drapery.  Upon  the 
piano  are  several  framed  photographs.  They  are  pic- 
tures of  members  or  friends  of  the  family  to  which  the 
house  belongs.  No  single  thing  appears  to  have  been 
disturbed;  and  when  the  absent  French  family  return, 
all  will  be  found  precisely  as  it  was  left,  if  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  drawing-room  is  any  safe  indication. 
Other  rooms,  it  was  learned,  have  been  converted  into 
offices.  Otherwise,  the  house  remains  exactly  as  it 
was  when  its  occupants  fled  before  the  oncoming  Ger- 
mans. 

Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  is  a  powerful  man, 
physically  and  mentally.  He  is  above  six  feet  in  height, 
well  proportioned,  with  a  slight  inclination  to  stout- 
ness. The  head  is  very  large  and  symmetrical  in  out- 
line; the  face  big  featured  and  full;  the  dark  eyes 
large  and  brilliant.  A  full,  heavy,  long,  white  beard, 
double-pointed,  falls  upon  either  breast.  The  carriage 
is  very  erect;  the  step  quick  and  energetic;  the  ges- 
tures impulsive  and,  dramatic.  The  uniform  is  dark 
blue,  with  the  regulation  bands  of  gold  lace  at  the 
wrist,  and  without  decorations.  The  Grand  Admiral 
is  in  his  slippers,  for  he  has  been  hard  at  work — the 
only  time,  it  appears,  when  he  rests  is  when  he  is 
asleep ;  for  he  has  the  German  passion  for  toil. 


THE    GERMAN    EMPEROR  61 

In  his  conversation,  the  chief  of  the  German  navy 
is  clear,  simple,  sometimes  eloquent  and  all  the  time 
forcible.  He  speaks  excellent  English  and  his  vo- 
cabulary is  very  large.  He  talked  with  unreserved 
frankness;  and  although  an  interview  for  publication 
was  not  intended  as  the  purpose  of  the  conversation, 
the  Grand  Admiral,  at  the  end,  heartily  consented  to 
be  quoted. 

"I  am  glad,"  said  he,  "that  you  have  come  to  Ger- 
many to  see  conditions  for  yourself.  We  are  all  sorry 
and  surprised  that  public  sentiment  in  your  country  is 
so  unfavorable  to  us.  Germany  and  America  were 
good  friends,  and  the  German  people  were  very 
friendly  to  the  American  people,  and  we  thought  the 
feeling  was  reciprocated.  Why  has  this  changed?" 
he  asked. 

I  explained  frankly,  that  it  was  felt  in  America  that 
Germany  was  responsible  for  the  war,  and  really  be- 
gan it. 

"But  why?"  broke  in  Admiral  von  Tirpitz.  "What 
had  we  to  gain  by  beginning  war?  Commerce?  No. 
Wealth?  No.  Happiness?  No.  The  idea  is  against 
common  sense !  Do  Americans  think  that  nearly  sev- 
enty million  people,  who  are  noted  for  their  thoughtful- 
ness,  suddenly  lost  their  heads?  Such  an  idea  is  not 
only  foolish,  but  monstrous !  We  did  not  want  war — 
did  not  expect  It,  could  not  believe  it ! 

"Here  is  one  little  proof  of  this,"  continued  the  Ger- 
man admiral.  "Our  ships  were  abroad;  many  of  our 
warships  were  in  foreign  ports;  much  of  our  vast 
merchant  marine  was  far  away  in  the  harbors  of  every 
country — do  you  think  that  if  we  had  planned  the  war, 


62       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

or  even  foreseen  it,  we  should  not  have  gotten  all  our 
ships  home  before  war  was  declared?  Would  it  not 
have  been  absurd  to  bring  on  a  war  without  getting  our 
ships  home." 

"Then  who  did  begin  the  war?"  I  asked. 

"On  the  surface  and  as  a  matter  of  open  action, 
Russia  began  it;  but  at  bottom,  England  is  to  blame. 
England  was  and  is  the  moving  spirit." 

"But  why  should  England  want  to  make  war  on 
Germany?"  I  asked. 

"You  may  see  the  reason  in  every  trading  port  of 
the  world,  where  Germans,  by  hard  and  careful  work, 
are  selling  German  goods  where  formerly  English 
goods  were  sold,"  answered  Grand  Admiral  von 
Tirpitz.  "You  may  see  it  in  German  factories,  busy 
making  things  for  the  world.  You  may  see  it  in 
our  wonderful  industrial  development.  This  growth 
of  our  commerce  has  crowded  England.  The  whole 
world  knows  that  she  has  long  been  jealous  of  German 
success  and  fearful  for  her  own  commerce,  which  was 
losing  ground  because  we  Germans  worked  harder, 
longer  and  had  better  system  than  our  English  com- 
petitors. But  we  must  live,  and  we  can  do  so  only  by 
industry,  by  making  and  selling  things  which  the  re- 
mainder of  the  world  wants  and  needs.  It  was  to 
break  down  German  industry  and  commerce  that  Eng- 
land planned  the  conditions  for  the  present  war — 
everybody  in  Europe  knows  that!  It  is  strange  that 
Americans  do  not  know  it  also!" 

"Your  Excellency,  you  ask  why  Germany  would  be- 
gin war,  and  American  public  opinion  think  so,"  I  re- 
marked. "There  are  many  things  that  have  caused 


THE   GERMAN    EMPEROR  63 

Americans  to  think  so.  One  of  them  concerns  a  prac- 
tice of  the  German  navy.  By  books,  articles,  editorials, 
Americans  have  learned  of  the  famous  toast  drunk  by 
German  naval  men :  'To  the  Day !'  Americans  under- 
stand that,  for  years,  German  naval  officers  have  drunk 
this  toast  to  the  day  when  Germany  should  be  at  war 
with  England.  What  is  the  explanation  of  this  toast 
To  the  Day'  ?"  I  inquired. 

Admiral  von  Tirpitz  leaned  forward  with  eyes 
ablaze  and  said  with  all  his  force,  though  not  loudly : 
"An  infamous,  English  lie — that  is  the  explanation! 
It  is  an  outright  falsehood.  I  say,  on  my  honor  as  a 
man  and  an  officer  that  I  never  heard  such  a  toast 
proposed,  never  drank  such  a  toast,  and  never  heard 
of  such  a  toast  being  proposed  or  drunk!  It  is  past 
belief  that  sensible  people  should  believe  such  stuff! 
I  can  admire  at  least  one  thing  English — their  in- 
genuity in  concocting  falsehoods  and  putting  them  be- 
fore the  world!  The  fact  is  that  our  officers  frat- 
ernized with  and  were  and  are  good  friends  of  the 
officers  of  other  nations.  Especially  did  our  officers 
try  to  be  friendly  with  the  officers  of  our  neighbor, 
England.  I  am  sure  no  honorable  English  officer  will 
say  otherwise,  or  will  say  that  he  ever  heard  that  this 
ridiculous  toast,  'To  the  Day,'  was  ever  proposed  or 
drunk,  or  that  he  knows  any  honorable  man  who  says 
that  he  heard  it.  Every  honorable  English  officer  will 
tell  you  that  it  is  a  wretched  lie." 

"Americans  have  been  impressed  with  your  build- 
ing of  a  powerful  navy.  It  has  been  said  that  this 
was  a  preparation  for  war.  Americans  wonder  why 
Germany  should  have  rushed  the  building  of  a  navy 


64       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

so  rapidly,  and  spent  so  much  money  on  it,"  I  sug- 
gested. 

"But  why  not?"  asked  the  German  sea  lord,  in 
return.  "Why  does  the  United  States  build  a  navy? 
Or  Japan?  Or  South  American  countries?  Nobody 
objects  to  any  other  country  building  a  navy;  why  do 
they  object  only  to  Germany's  doing  the  same  thing? 
Why  are  we  singled  out  for  suspicion  and  abuse? 
Why,  when  we,  more  than  any  one,  have  reason  for  a 
navy? 

"Think  of  our  geographical  position;  think  of  our 
commerce — nearly  every  pound  of  it  must  pass  under 
English  guns,  without  any  protection  except  the  men- 
ace of  our  navy.  In  our  position,  would  not  your 
country  build  a  navy  ?  Have  you  not  built  a  big  navy, 
although  not  so  exposed  as  Germany  is? 

"And,"  continued  Germany's  sailor-statesman,  "what 
about  England's  navy — a  double  standard  navy,  ready 
to  choke  us  or  any  other  country  in  England's  way? 
They  talk  about  German  'militarism,'  which  does  not 
exist — but  what  about  England's  maritimism,  which 
does  exist?  Think  of  it!  England's  naval  principle  is 
that  the  English  navy  must  be  as  large  as  those  of  any 
two  other  Powers  combined;  and  this,  too,  although 
England  is  not  so  open  to  attacks  as  most  other  coun- 
tries. Yet  England  expects  the  world  to  agree  to  this, 
although  it  gives  England  command  of  the  world.  Sup- 
pose Germany  insisted  on  the  same  principle  on  land. 
Suppose  Germany  maintained  an  army  as  large  as  the 
armies  of  any  other  two  powers  put  together!  Yet 
England  does  that  very  thing  on  the  sea.  Again  I  ask 
you — what  about  England's  maritimism?" 


THE   GERMAN   EMPEROR  65 

"But,"  said  I,  "England  has  a  world  wide  com- 
merce to  protect,  and  world  wide  possessions." 

"So  has  Germany  a  world  wide  commerce,  which 
is  growing  faster  than  England's,"  retorted  Grand 
Admiral  von  Tirpitz.  "And  Germany,  too,  has  col- 
onies. Is  England  the  only  power  entitled  to  com- 
merce and  a  navy  to  protect  it?  Is  England  the  only 
country  which  has  the  right  to  have  colonies  ?" 

I  mentioned  Germany's  violation  of  Belgian  neu- 
trality as  a  decided  source  of  unfavorable  American 
public  opinion. 

"Where,"  answered  the  Grand  Admiral,  "is  a  neu- 
trality which  the  supposed  neutral  country  has  itself 
destroyed?  We  believed  Belgium  had  made  an  ar- 
rangement with  France  and  England  for  mutual  ac- 
tion against  us  in  case  of  war.  Perhaps  we  could  not 
have  proved  it ;  now  we  can  prove  it,  and  have  proved 
it.  And,  if  Belgium  was  to  permit  France  and  Eng- 
land to  attack  us  through  Belgian  territory,  should 
we  have  taken  such  a  chance  ?  Would  you  Americans 
have  taken  such  a  chance?  It  would  have  been  mad- 
ness! It  would  have  been  criminal!  Do  not  for- 
get our  history — trampled  over,  fought  over,  for  hun- 
dreds of  years.  And  now  we  are  fighting  for  our 
lives !" 

"Many  in  America  think,  Your  Excellency,  that 
Germany  is  fighting  to  dominate  the  world,"  I  re- 
marked. 

"Another  lie  of  England's!"  shot  back  Grand  Ad- 
miral von  Tirpitz.  "Dominate  the  world — how?  By 
force  ?  We  are  not  fools !  Do  give  us  credit  for  that ! 
Dominate  the  world!  It  is — what  do  you  say?  Oh, 


66       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE  WAR 

yes — idiotic.  What  are  the  facts?  We  were  doing 
very  well — you  grant  us  that?" 

And  leaning  forward,  this  extraordinary  man 
pointed  his  finger.  I  remained  silent.  And  again 
Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  asked : 

"We  were  doing  well,  were  we  not — in  industry  and 
commerce;  I  ask  you — what  do  you  say?" 

"Yes,  very  well  indeed — wonderfully  well,"  I  re- 
plied. 

"Well,  then,  we  wished  only  to  be  let  alone,  so  that 
we  could  go  on  doing  well,  and  making  well  better  if 
we  could,  by  hard  work  and  careful  thought.  We 
asked  no  advantage;  we  asked  only  the  privilege  to 
compete  freely  with  other  people,  depending  upon 
nothing  except  our  industry  and  method  for  success. 
And  you  admit  that  we  were  succeeding  not  only  in 
the  ordering  of  our  life  here  in  Germany,  but  in  world 
trade.  We  were  succeeding  in  giving  employment  to 
our  immense  population,  food  for  their  mouths,  cloth- 
ing for  their  backs,  shelter  over  their  heads. 

"The  German  people  themselves  did  that,"  the 
Grand  Admiral  went  on,  "they  had  made  themselves 
happy  and  prosperous  by  the  old-fashioned  methods 
of  hard  work,  clean  living  and  clear  thinking.  They 
were  taking  England's  markets  because  Englishmen 
insisted  on  their  vacations  and  week-ends  and  luxuries 
and  sports.  England  could  save  these  markets  in  one 
of  two  ways;  by  working  and  living  as  we  live  and 
work,  or  by  crushing  us.  She  chose  to  crush  us.  So 
it  is  life  that  we  fight  for — sheer  physical  existence; 
and  we  will  fight  to  the  end — and  we  will  win.  It  is 


THE   GERMAN   EMPEROR  67 

either  victory  or  death  with  us ;  and  it  will  be  victory. 
Let  nobody  make  any  mistake  about  that !" 

And  here  this  giant  of  a  man,  physically  as  well  as 
mentally,  threw  all  his  power  into  his  words. 

"It  has  been  said,  Your  Excellency,  that  you  have 
suggested  a  submarine  blockade  of  England."* 

"Well,  why  not?"  came  like  a  shot  from  a  big  gun. 
"Why  not,  I  say  ?  England  is  trying  to  starve  us.  She 
could  not  do  that  if  we  did  not  get  a  pound  of  provi- 
sions from  other  countries!  But  she  is  trying  to  do 
so.  Are  we  not  to  retaliate?  Why  is  it  that  what- 
ever England  does  seems  all  right  to  Americans,  while 
they  object  to  anything  Germany  does,  of  the  same 
kind?" 

"But,"  I  suggested,  "a  submarine  blockade  is  not 
the  same  as  an  ordinary  blockade,  where  merchant 
ships  can  be  warned  before  sinking.  But  a  submarine 
blockade  gives  the  blockade  runner  no  chance." 

"But  what  chance  does  a  mine  give  the  merchant 
ship  ?"  quickly  exclaimed  Germany's  master  sailor.  "It 
gives  less  chance  even  than  a  submarine.  If  we  de- 
cide upon  a  submarine  blockade  of  England,  we  shall 
notify  the  world.  Yet  England  has  sowed  the  North 
Sea  and  the  Channel  with  mines,  so  as  to  shut  us  from 
the  ocean  and  keep  supplies  away  from  us.  These 
hundreds  of  mines  give  no  warning." 

"But,"  I  asked,  "has  not  Germany  sowed  mines  in 
the  North  Sea  also?  Our  understanding  in  America 
is  that  England  and  Germany  are  even  on  that  score." 


*The  time  of  this  conversation  was  the  evening  of  January 
11,  1915. 


68       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  JHE 

"Another  gigantic  English  lie !"  almost  shouted  Ger- 
many's first  sailor.  "We  have  not  planted  a  single 
mine  in  the  North  Sea,  except  on  the  English  coast 
and  in  English  waters.  What  happened  when  nearly 
an  hundred  mines  were  washed  ashore  on  the  coast 
of  Holland?  Nearly  all  of  them  were  English;  not 
one  was  German!  And  yet  they  tell  you  that  we 
sowed  mines  in  the  North  Sea!  Why  should  we? 
Would  we  want  to  blow  up  merchant  ships  carrying 
provisions  to  us?  Would  we  want  to  help  England 
in  her  attempt  to  strangle  us  ? 

"Again  I  say  I  am  moved  to  admiration  at  Eng- 
land's colossal  ability  to  invent  falsehoods  and  then 
to  get  the  world  to  listen  to  and  believe  them,"  said 
Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz.  "It  is  astonishing  that 
you  Americans,  the  shrewdest  people  in  the  world, 
should  credit  England's  statement  that  we  Germans 
do  everything  that  is  foolish  and  wicked,  and  nothing 
that  is  sensible  and  good!  The  German  citizens  of 
your  own  country — are  they  not  sensible  people  ?  Are 
they  not  good  people?  Yet  we  are  the  same  people!" 

"Our  people  of  German  descent  are  among  the  very 
best  citizens  we  have.  We  have  no  better.  We  wish 
we  had  more  of  them,"  I  replied. 

"Oh,  is  that  why  you  are  not  neutral?"  snapped 
back  this  keen-minded  chief  of  the  German  navy. 
"You  want  more  of  our  people  for  citizens?  You 
know  that  if  we  are  beaten  you  will  get  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  them,  which  our  industry  and  commerce 
now  keep  prosperously  and  happily  here  in  Germany." 

"But,  Your  Excellency,  we  are  neutral;  we  wish  to 


THE    GERMAN    EMPEROR  69 

be  impartial  and  just,  even  in  thought,  as  our  Presi- 
dent has  said,"  I  remarked. 

"Neutral !"  exclaimed  this  builder  of  Germany's  sea 
power.  "When  you  are  sending  provisions  to  Eng- 
land, France,  Russia — and  none  to  us!  Neutral! 
"When  you  are  supplying  our  enemies  with  rifles,  guns, 
ammunition — and  selling  none  to  us !  Tell  me" — and 
this  mighty  figure  of  a  man  rose  to  his  feet,  towering 
like  an  ancient  viking,  whose  pictures  he  resembles — 
"do  you  call  that  neutrality  ?" 

"But,  Your  Excellency,  the  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers of  a  neutral  nation  may  sell  what  they  like 
to  all  belligerents,  may  they  not?"  I  challenged.  "The 
belligerent  power  buys  and  ships  them  at  its  own  risk. 
If  one  warring  country  can  get  such  goods  into  port 
and  another  can  not,  has  the  neutral  nation  violated 
neutrality  by  that  course  ?" 

"Technically,  no;  morally,  yes,"  instantly  replied 
the  German  naval  chief.  "That  argument  is  what 
you  call  splitting  hairs,  I  believe.  Here  is  a  great 
and  friendly  nation,  millions  of  whose  people  are  your 
own  citizens;  and  the  greatest  and  most  unnatural 
combination  of  enemies  in  the  history  of  the  world  is 
trying  to  crush  that  nation.  That  nation  is  fighting 
for  its  life;  yet  neutral  America,  which  prides  itself  on 
justice,  and  despises  technicalities,  says  that  although 
Germany's  location  and  this  wicked  combination  of 
enemies  surrounding  her  prevent  her  from  getting  pro- 
visions and  munitions  of  war,  for  which  she  has  the 
gold  to  pay — still  America  will  supply  Germany's  ene- 
mies with  food  and  powder  and  guns;  but  not  Ger- 


70       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

many,  upon  the  technicality  that  it  is  not  America's 
fault  if  American  goods  can  not  reach  Germany,  and 
can  reach  Germany's  enemies.  We  Germans  think 
that  this  position  is  morally  unfair.  We  think  that  it 
is  not  what  you  call  a  square  deal." 

"But  are  you  in  need  of  provisions,  of  munitions  of 
war?"  I  asked. 

"No ;  we  have  more  than  enough.  We  can  neither 
be  starved  nor  beaten.  But  the  big  point  is  that,  by 
selling  war  materials  and  provisions  to  the  Allies  the 
United  States  are  prolonging  the  war.  If  America 
would  not  send  any  more  powder,  guns  and  food  to 
our  enemies,  this  war  would  very  soon  be  over. 

"Does  America  wish  to  take  the  responsibility  for 
this?"  exclaimed  Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz.  "I 
wonder  if  the  good  people  of  the  United  States  who 
talk  about  peace  realize  that  by  furnishing  our  enemies 
with  the  necessaries  of  war,  America  is  actually  keep- 
ing up  the  war.  America  could  end  it  very  quickly  if 
she  would." 

This  conversation  had  gone  on  as  a  private  exchange 
of  views ;  but  so  much  that  the  Grand  Admiral  said  was 
important  that  I  asked  him,  as  we  were  parting, 
whether  he  objected  to  my  quoting  him. 

"I  do  not  object,"  he  answered.  "I  most  certainly 
do  not.  I  shall  be  glad  if  you  will.  Just  submit  it 
so  that  I  may  be  sure  and  you  may  be  sure  that  we 
have  understood  one  another." 

It  accordingly  was  submitted;  and  what  is  here  set 
down  is  as  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  expressed  it,  and  then 
afterward  verified  it.  To  make  its  accuracy  certain,  I 
requested  that  each  page  of  the  manuscript  be  stamped 


71 

by  the  navy  department.      This  was  done,  and  the 
original  is  in  my  possession. 

// — Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg 

The  performances  of  the  Germany  army  in  the  east 
have  not  only  given  General  von  Hindenburg  supreme 
command  in  that  theater  of  the  war,  but  with  it  also 
the  title  of  Field  Marshal,  the  highest  distinction 
known  to  the  German  military  establishment.  In  the 
big,  barn-like,  painfully  modern  building  called  Posen 
Schloss,  Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg  has  estab- 
lished the  Grand  Headquarters  of  the  East,  and  sur- 
rounded himself  by  a  staff  of  officers  whose  mastery 
of  the  art  of  war  has  attracted  the  attention  of  other 
nations,  and  won  the  unbounded  confidence  and  en- 
thusiasm of  the  German  people.  Within  the  unlovely 
walls  of  this  recently  built  castle  throbs  the  collective 
brain  which  plans  every  movement,  considers  every 
condition  along  the  immense  battle  line  extending 
from  the  Baltic  Sea  to  the  Austrian  stronghold  of 
Cracow.  Every  one  of  these  men  has  been  chosen 
solely  because  of  ability,  effectiveness  and  devotion  to 
his  work. 

Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg  looks  the  ideal  sol- 
dier. He  is  a  very  large  man,  more  than  six  feet  tall, 
broad-shouldered,  thick-chested,  but  not  bulky  in  the 
waist.  The  immense  stature,  the  huge  frame,  the  im- 
pression of  tremendous,  steady,  unyielding  force 
which  Von  Hindenburg  gives  you — all  of  these  make 
him  fit  in  well  with  the  wide-spaced,  lofty-ceilinged 
rooms  and  halls. 


72       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

The  face  is  massive;  the  jaws  remarkably  broad 
and  heavy ;  the  chin  wide  and  with  a  slightly  forward 
thrust.  The  big  eyes  are  a  clear  gray;  the  mouth 
large  and  generous ;  the  lips  firm  to  grimness,  but  for 
their  great  good  humor  and  a  trick  of  breaking  into 
smiles.  The  eyes,  too,  twinkle  with  merriment;  and 
indeed  the  "pile-driver"  effect  of  the  whole  man  is 
modified  by  the  kindliness  which  rescues  the  granite- 
like  features  from  a  terrible  sternness.  One  can  well 
believe  the  stories  of  the  fondness  of  children  for  Field 
Marshal  von  Hindenburg,  who,  it  is  said,  has  an  equal 
liking  for  them. 

You  get  the  impression,  too,  of  supreme  confidence 
in  himself.  Here  is  a  man,  you  feel  instinctively,  who 
makes  up  his  mind  what  he  wants  or  wants  to  do,  and 
then  has  no  further  doubt  on  the  subject.  It  is  the 
kind  of  self-confidence  that  inspires  confidence  in 
others. 

You  can  readily  credit  the  report  that  he  keeps 
his  own  counsel,  even  to  the  point  of  secretiveness ; 
it  is  said  that  only  two  officers  know  all  of  the  plans 
of  operations  on  the  eastern  front.  These  two  of- 
ficers, who  help  devise  those  plans,  are  men  whose 
brilliant  work  in  the  present  war  has  already  made  one 
of  them  known  to  the  German  people,  and  the  other 
to  German  military  circles.  Both  of  them,  before  fall 
comes,  will  be  known  to  the  world. 

Some  say  that  it  is  doubtful  if  any  one  in  Germany 
save  the  Emperor  and  these  three  men  has  the  slight- 
est knowledge  of  what  is  to  be  done  throughout  the 
extended  eastern  field  of  hostilities.  This  is  merely  a 
form  of  expressing  the  secrecy  of  the  Eastern  Head- 


THE   GERMAN   EMPEROR  73 

quarters;  for,  of  course,  the  General  Staff  is  fully  ad- 
vised. 

Thus  far  Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg  is  the  one 
popularly  acknowledged  military  genius  developed  by 
this  war.  At  the  date  of  this  writing,  February  4, 
1915,  the  German  people  think  him  as  great  as  the 
great  Von  Moltke;  and  his  manner,  appearance  and 
deeds  suggest  a  combination  of  Von  Moltke  and 
Bliicher. 

The  Field  Marshal  was  quite  willing  to  answer 
questions,  and  each  answer  was  like  a  shot  from  a 
great  gun. 

''At  bottom,  who  is  responsible  for  this  war  ?  That 
is  what  America  wants  to  know,"  I  began. 

"England !"  boomed  the  Field  Marshal. 

"Why  England?" 

"She  was  jealous.  The  English  merchants  made 
this  war.  It  is  a  merchants'  war — English  mer- 
chants." 

"Most  Americans  think  that  Germany  began  the 
war  because  she  declared  war  first,"  I  suggested. 

"Germany  did  not  begin  it;  Russia  did,"  answered 
the  Field  Marshal.  "Russia  began  mobilizing  many 
weeks — a  long  time — before  our  Emperor  ordered  our 
mobilization,  or  thought  of  doing  so.  Russia  was 
bringing  Siberian  troops  to  the  German  frontier. 
These  troops  from  Siberia  were  coming.  We  said  to 
Russia :  'What  does  this  mean  ?'  Russia  gave  no  an- 
swer. Then  we  asked  her  to  stop.  She  would  not 
stop.  Then  we  asked  England  to  stop  her.  England 
would  not  stop  her.  It  was  war.  We  had  to  strike ; 
we  did  strike." 


74       WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"If  it  was  Russia's  action  that  caused  war,  why  do 
you  say  that  England  was  responsible?"  I  asked. 

"She  could  have  stopped  it,"  promptly  responded 
Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg.  "Russia  would  not 
have  begun  it  if  England  had  said,  'No/  But  England 
wanted  it.  She  thought  that,  with  Russia  and  France 
to  help  her,  she  could  kill  Germany.  We  do  not  dis- 
like France,  nor  Russia  either.  We  like  the  French. 
But  England !  We  hate  England !  She  is  the  cause." 

"It  is  said  in  America  that  there  is  a  military  party 
in  Germany — "  I  started  to  say. 

"Foolish !"  rumbled  the  Field  Marshal,  interrupting. 

"And  that  Germany's  military  party  forced  the 
war,"  I  went  on. 

"Foolish!"  again  clanged  the  Field  Marshal — his 
voice  was  a  mingling  of  amusement  and  disgust.  He 
looked  both.  I  could  not  repress  a  smile. 

"Is  that  the  only  answer?"  I  exclaimed. 

"Yes ;  foolish.  There  is  no  such  thing."  The  fun 
in  the  Field  Marshal's  tone  rescued  it  from  a  mighty 
growl. 

"Many  think  that  Germany  stands  for  militarism, 
and  that  the  spirit  of  militarism  caused  the  war,"  I 
observed. 

"I  don't  understand  what  you  mean  by  that  'mili- 
tarism'— what  is  it?"  Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg 
looked  his  mystification. 

I  explained  the  American  conception  of  militarism. 

"Nonsense,"  he  answered  good  naturedly.  "The 
German  army  is  the  German  people.  It  had  to  be  so, 
with  Russia  on  one  side  and  France  on  the  other." 

"But  although  the  people  are  the  army,  can  not  the 


THE   GERMAN   EMPEROR  75 

government  force  the  people  into  war  without  their 
consent?"  I  inquired. 

"Force  the  people?  No!"  exploded  Germany's 
greatest  fighting  chieftain.  "We  could  not  fight  a 
war  as  we  are  fighting  this  one  if  the  people  were  not 
for  it.  It  would  not  be  practicable  nor  possible.  It 
would  not  work."* 

"But  in  America  this  war  is  often  called  'the 
Kaiser's  war,'  and  not  the  people's  war.  How  can 
that  be?"  I  asked. 

"The  German  Emperor  and  the  German  people  are 
one,"  exclaimed  Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg.  "Talk 
to  our  soldiers,  or  anybody  in  Germany,  and  you  will 
find  this  is  true." 

"America  did  not  like  Germany's  violation  of  Bel- 
gium's neutrality,"  I  remarked. 

"France  had  violated  it  already,"  said  the  Field 
Marshal;  "French  officers  and  troops  were  across  the 
Belgian  frontier  already.  Belgium  had  violated  this 
neutrality  herself  long  ago.  There  was  no  neutrality 
left." 


*  A  German  scholar  had  told  me  the  same  thing  in  Berlin.  "If 
the  people  were  not  for  this  war,  all  sorts  of  things  would  hap- 
pen," said  he.  Dr.  Albert  Siidekum,  the  Socialist  leader,  gave 
similar  testimony.  The  railway  service  would  break  down  here 
and  there ;  ammunition  would  not  arrive ;  the  commissariat  would 
be  slow ;  there  would  be  no  volunteers — many  things  would  hap- 
pen and  many  others  would  not  happen,  etc.  In  short,  according 
to  German  non-military  men,  the  "military  authorities"  would  be 
pretty  helpless,  after  all,  if  the  people  were  against  the  war. 
German  business  men  bore  the  same  testimony.  "Why,"  said  a 
banker,  "I  should  like  to  know  what  we  could  do  if  the  people 
refused  to  send  their  gold  to  the  Reichsbank.  And,  if  the  people 
were  opposed  to  the  war,  they  would  keep  their  hoardings  in 
their  stockings.  Yet  they  have  sent  them  to  the  bank  for  war 
purposes  in  an  unprecedented  manner."  Also  see  Chapter  VI. 


76     WHAT;  is  BACK  OF  THE  WAR 

"How  did  Belgium  violate  her  own  neutrality?"  I 
asked. 

"By  agreeing  to  let  England  and  France  attack  Ger- 
many through  Belgium,"  answered  the  Field  Mar- 
shal. 

"Are  the  German  people  united  for  the  war;  does 
anybody  in  Germany  object?" 

"Have  you  found  anybody  who  objects?"  coun- 
tered the  Field  Marshal. 

I  admitted  I  had  not. 

"And  you  will  not.  The  German  people  are  as  one 
man.  You  will  find  it  so,"  asserted  the  German  Field 
Marshal. 

"The  people  I  have  talked  to  in  Germany  seem  to 
think  Germany  will  win,"  I  observed. 

"Of  course  we  shall  win!  We  have  no  doubt — 
have  you?"  asked  the  Field  Marshal. 

I  explained  that  Americans  did  not  understand  how 
Germany  could  win  over  the  great  combination  against 
her,  and  asked  the  Field  Marshal  the  reason  for  Ger- 
man faith  in  victory. 

"We  shall  win  because  we  know  we  are  right,"  was 
the  Field  Marshal's  answer.  "Every  German  soldier 
knows  we  are  right.  He  knows  what  he  is  fighting 
for.  The  combination  of  our  enemies  does  not 
frighten  us.  Frederick  the  Great  won  against  a  com- 
bination of  comparatively  more  enemies,  and  he  was 
not  so  well  prepared  as  we  are  now.  We  are  fighting 
for  existence." 

"What  are  the  chief  elements  of  German  strength?" 
I  asked. 


THE   GERMAN   EMPEROR 

The  Field  Marshal  answered  slowly,  as  if  counting 
these  elements. 

"Our  knowledge  that  we  are  right ;  the  faith  of  the 
nation  that  we  shall  win;  their  willingness  to  die  in 
order  to  win;  the  perfect  discipline  of  our  troops; 
their  understanding  of  orders;  their  greater  intelli- 
gence, education  and  spirit;  our  organization  and  re- 
sources." 

"Americans  admit  and  admire  German  organization ; 
but  they  think,  quite  naturally,  that  your  resources  are 
not  great  enough  to  enable  you  to  keep  up  the  war," 
I  observed. 

"Don't  worry  about  our  resources.  They  are  plenty. 
More  than  enough.  The  world  will  learn  that  in  time." 

"You  spoke  of  the  superiority  of  the  German  sol- 
dier. What  of  the  Russians?" 

"Good  fighters,  who  don't  know  what  they  are  right- 
ing for,"  said  the  Field  Marshal.  "They  only  know 
that  they  are  told  to  fight.  They  don't  know  why. 
They  have  no  education.  The  German  soldier  is  alive ; 
the  Russian  dead — in  mind." 

"How  long,  Field  Marshal,  will  the  war  last?"  I 
asked. 

"Until  victory  for  Germany!" 

"What  of  the  health  and  spirit  of  your  troops  ?" 

"Excellent!    See  for  yourself !" 

"How  many  prisoners  have  you  taken?" 

"Ask  the  railroad  authorities.  They  know  to  the 
man.  But  more  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand." 

"Does  that  mean  the  number  your  army  has  taken, 


78       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

or  the  total  number  of  prisoners  which  all  German 
armies  have  taken?" 

"Only  the  prisoners  we  have  taken  in  the  east.  We 
have  taken  more  than,  three  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand here  in  the  east." 

"Does  that  include  the  number  of  prisoners  taken 
by  the  Austrians?" 

"No;  only  the  prisoners  the  German  troops  in  the 
east  have  taken.  I  don't  know  how  many  the  Aus- 
trians have  taken.  They  have  taken  a  great  many."* 

"Many  reports  have  been  published  that  there  are 
dissensions  between  the  German  and  Austrian  forces, 
both  officers  and  men." 

"Ridiculous!"  said  the  Field  Marshal.  "False,  of 
course !" 

The  Field  Marshal  had  been  so  frank  and  good- 
humored  that  I  laughingly  asked  him  when  he  was 
going  to  take  Warsaw. 

His  eyes  twinkled  with  fun  as  he  said : 

"Can't  tell.  We  are  thinking ;  but  so  are  the  Russian 
officers  thinking.  But  we  shall  take  it.  Maybe  to-day ; 
maybe  to-morrow;  maybe  next  day.  But  when  we 
move,  we  shall  win !" 

Like  the  conversation  with  Grand  Admiral  von  Tir- 
pitz,  this  talk  with  Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg  was 
written  out,  submitted  to  and  approved  by  him ;  and  at 
my  request  the  official  stamp  of  the  General  Staff  was 
placed  upon  each  page  of  the  manuscript,  of  which  I 
retain  the  original. 

*  This  conversation  occurred  February  21,  1915. 


THE   GERMAN   EMPEROR  79 

/// — Rising  Stars 

Such  is  the  appearance  and  such  the  sentiment  of 
the  two  German  fighting  leaders,  now  most  in  the  pub- 
lic eye  of  the  world.  Because  of  this  fact,  and  because 
they  are  typical  of  the  German  military  and  naval 
officer,  of  which  they  are  respectively  the  highest  ex- 
amples, I  have  described  and  reported  them  for  the 
American  reader.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the 
issues  involved  in  the  war,  let  no  one  imagine  that  Ger- 
many is  not  well  equipped  with  officers,  not  only  in 
great  numbers,  but  of  uncommon  ability  and  thorough 
training. 

It  is  safe,  also,  to  say  that  as  the  war  goes  on  the 
names  of  other  men,  now  unheard  of  outside  of  Ger- 
many, will  become  as  well  known  to  the  world  and  to 
history  as  even  Von  Hindenburg  or  Von  Tirpitz  now 
are.  Already,  above  the  horizon  there  has  arisen  one 
of  certainly  great  talents,  and  one  whom  many  in 
Germany  think  a  genius  of  the  first  magnitude. 

As  the  summer  passes  and  next  autumn  comes,  let 
the  American  reader  watch  for  the  name  of  Von  Lu- 
dendorff,  now  Chief  of  Von  Hindenburg's  staff;  Von 
Ludendorff  may  be  a  field  marshal  by  that  time.* 

Before  the  snows  of  next  winter  fly,  look  for  the 
name  of  Hoffman,  now  a  colonel  in  Von  Hindenburg's 
military  household ;  Hoffman  may  be  a  general  by  then. 

On  the  west  front  also  there  are  other  younger  offi- 
cers of  highest  promise.  Indeed,  in  both  the  eastern 
and  the  western  theaters  of  war  there  are  a  surprising 

*  Written  February  4,  1915. 


80       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   JHE  WAR 

number  of  officers  with  the  ability,  the  will  and  the  dar- 
ing to  make  history,  and  to  weave  their  names  into  it. 
Yet,  as  important,  as  indispensable  as  they  are,  the  offi- 
cers are  the  smallest  factor  in  this  war ;  it  is  the  people 
which  constitute  the  vital  force  in  the  struggle,  and 
back  of  the  people,  their  ideals.  Other  chapters  deal 
with  these  fundamental  elements  of  this  destiny-deter- 
mining struggle. 


IV 

A  DAY  OF  WINTER  BATTLE* 

ALTHOUGH  you  do  not  go  to  bed  until  near  mid- 
night, and  are  asleep  before  your  head  touches 
the  pillow,  you  need  no  thundering  on  the  door  to 
awaken  you  at  half  past  four  this  morning.  The  bel- 
lowing wind  performs  that  service  for  you — you  had 
no  idea  it  could  howl  with  such  a  penetrating  voice. 
And  its  tones  are  arctic.  They  announce  a  tempera- 
ture which  makes  you  shiver  before  you  feel  it. 

Perhaps  your  experience  the  day  and  night  before 
subconsciously  puts  an  edge  on  the  blasts  of  the  gale  in 
your  imagination.  For  you  are  in  Lodz,  in  Russian 
Poland,  and  you  have  driven  from  Posen,  nine  hours 
at  top  speed  of  a  swift  automobile  in  the  face  of  a 
driving  wind,  sharpened  by  particles  of  snow  which 
sting  your  face  like  wasps.  You  are  on  your  way  to  a 
battlefield,  some  ten  miles  beyond  Lowitsch;  and  Lo- 
witsch  itself  is  about  thirty  miles  from  Lodz.  You  are 
soon  to  see  fighting  within  an  hour's  automobile  ride, 
in  peace  time,  of  Warsaw. 

Advised  by  yesterday's  frigid  journey,  and  cau- 
tioned by  officers,  you  take  extreme  measures  against 
the  expected  chill  of  the  day  before  you.  Three  suits 

*T.odz,  Russian  Poland,  January  31,  February  1,  1915. 

81 


82       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

of  woolen  underwear;  riding  breeches,  shirt  and  coat; 
a  woolen  sweater;  fur-lined  vest;  heavy  fur  coat  with 
a  long  cape  over  all ;  thick,  long,  woolen,  hand-knitted 
socks;  riding  boots  with  heavy  wool  socks  over  these, 
encased  from  knee  to  ankle  in  leather  puttees;  thick, 
wool-knit  headpiece  beneath  the  cap,  covering  fore- 
head, ears  and  chin  and  warmly  circling  the  neck;  au- 
tomobile goggles  for  the  eyes ;  gloves,  with  soft,  thick 
mittens  worn  over  them — such  are  the  fortifications 
which,  you  are  informed,  your  softened  and  unsea- 
soned civilian  tissues  will  require  against  the  cold, 
speeding  in  an  open  automobile. 

Although  they,  too,  are  warmly  clad,  the  German 
officer  and  soldier  need  no  such  padding;  for,  living, 
marching,  fighting  constantly  in  the  open  has  estab- 
lished good  relations  between  them  and  the  weather. 

At  the  very  outset  is  a  meaningful  circumstance: 
your  guide  in  charge  of  the  auto  is  a  gentle-spoken 
Jewish  youth.  Not  a  feature  is  Hebraic;  only  his 
name  advertises  his  origin.  He  is  a  volunteer  in  the 
automobile  corps,  as  is  his  father,  also.  He  knows 
every  road,  lane  and  bypath  in  that  whole  region.  His 
duties  are  full  of  extreme  peril — already,  he  has  won 
the  iron  cross  by  intrepid  daring  and  cool  intelligence. 
His  fidelity  has  made  him  the  trusted  messenger  of  the 
strictest  and  most  secretive  military  headquarters  in 
the  Empire. 

You  have  heard  of  this  young  person  before,  and  of 
his  brilliant,  hazardous  work.  He  is  a  symbol  and  a 
sign — the  people  of  his  race  in  Germany  are  displaying 
incredible  devotion  to  the  government,  limitless  sup- 
port of  the  war.  Not  Bavarian,  nor  yet  Prussian,  not 


A   DAY   OF   WINTER   BATTLE         83 

Saxon  nor  Wurtemburger,  nor  any  person  of  pure 
Teutonic  blood  exceeds  the  Jew  in  Germany  in  his 
eagerness  to  sacrifice  everything  for  German  victory. 

Mile  upon  mile  you  fly  under  the  dark  sky,  low-hang- 
ing with  clouds  from  which  falls  a  smatter  of  snow. 
The  landscape  is  a  study  in  black  and  white.  Patches  of 
pine  forest  stand  out  like  sections  of  midnight  on  the 
snowy  plain.  To  the  right  and  left  are  Russian  battery 
pits  and  rifle  trenches,  long  since  tenantless;  it  would 
seem  that  every  foot  of  the  way  had  been  fought  over, 
though  not  seriously,  except  here  and  there  where  it  is 
plain  that  a  hard  fight  occurred. 

Hamlets,  villages,  and  one  or  two  small  towns  pass 
like  a  bizarre  panorama.  Naked  walls  of  houses,  which 
unluckily  had  stood  in  the  line  of  fire,  hardly  attract 
your  notice,  for  such  specters  have  become  so  familiar 
that  they  are  commonplace.  You  do  note  a  big  hole, 
perhaps  ten  feet  in  diameter,  in  the  brick  tower  of 
a  Russian  church,  a  little  way  beneath  its  bulk-like, 
blue-painted,  oriental  dome,  so  grotesque  is  the  con- 
trast ;  a  German  shell  had  routed  the  enemy  from  this 
observation  point. 

Two  lofty  pine  trees,  side  by  side  in  a  field  far 
from  the  nearest  woodland,  stamp  themselves  curi- 
ously upon  your  mind.  Again,  a  tall  cross  of  rough 
timber,  bearing  the  Holy  Image,  rises  before  you  at 
the  roadside — the  cold  seems  more  intense,  the  gloom 
of  sky  and  field  and  wood  still  more  desolate. 

Yet  now  and  then  where  for  a  hand's  space  eddies 
of  wind  have  swept  the  snow  from  the  fields,  you  see 
that  all  is  cultivated,  and  that  winter  wheat  is  com- 
ing on. 


84       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

You  begin  to  meet  empty  provision  wagons,  now, 
the  first  one  driven  by  peasants,  and  then  others,  driven 
by  German  soldiers. 

And  now  you  pass  through  a  town,  where  the  unex- 
pected greets  you  with  curt  abruptness;  the  inhab- 
itants are  walking  to  and  fro  along  the  street  about 
their  daily  affairs.  Upon  a  stool  by  the  side  of  a  door 
sits  an  old  woman,  with  loaves  of  bread  piled  on  the 
table  before  her,  ready  for  customers;  and  across  the 
way,  through  the  window  of  a  meat  vender's  shop,  you 
see  a  side  of  fresh  beef  hanging  from  its  hook  beside 
other  familiar  wares  of  the  butcher's  shop.  This  in 
Russian  Poland,  January  31,  1915,  and  you  on  your 
way  to  the  near-by  battlefield. 

Soon,  you  meet  other  provision  wagons,  all  empty 
and  going  in  the  opposite  direction.  And  then  you 
pass  a  train  of  these  same  vehicles,  heavily  laden,  mak- 
ing their  steady  and  unhurried  way  toward  the  still  dis- 
tant front.  You  began  to  count  them  until  fifty-two 
have  been  left  behind,  and  then  give  it  up,  for  there  is 
a  long  line  still  ahead  of  you,  and  other  incidents  cap- 
ture your  attention. 

One  in  particular  is  like  a  scene  from  Alice  in 
Wonderland,  so  odd,  so  absurd,  so  unreal  it  seems. 
You  pass  through  a  village  some  four  or  five  miles 
from  Lowitsch,  and  along  the  road  from  this  vil- 
lage to  the  larger  town,  strange  figures  are  trudging. 
A  shawl  covers  the  head  and  shoulders  down  to  the 
waist,  from  which  hangs  an  amazing  skirt,  bulged  out 
by  many  skirts  beneath  until  it  looks  like  a  bell.  This 
overskirt  is  made  of  strips  of  different  colored  cloth, 
each  perhaps  three  inches  wide,  one  yellow,  one  blue, 


A   DAY   OF   WINTER   BATTLE         85 

another  orange,  still  another  green.  A  little  distance 
from  you,  they  look  like  great  beetles.  They  are 
peasant- women,  peculiar  to  this  locality,  plodding  to 
church;  for  this  battle  day  is  Sunday.  You  already 
hear  the  distance-dulled  grumbling  of  the  guns. 

Passing  through  Lowitsch  signs  of  unusual  military 
activity  become  unmistakable;  provision  wagons,  am- 
munition trains,  troops  of  Uhlans — their  lances  like  the 
long  black  needles  of  mythical  giants — all  moving 
steadily  forward;  groups  of  common  soldiers  appar- 
ently connected  with  the  commissariat  or  some  other 
nonfighting  branch  of  the  service. 

Yet  all  of  this  woven  in  and  out  with  the  civilian 
life  of  the  place — a  soldier  making  some  purchase  in 
a  shop;  a  slender  trickle  of  variously  garbed  men  and 
women  going  toward  the  church;  a  blond-bearded 
German  teamster  standing  for  a  moment's  rest,  his 
face  full  of  good-humored  content,  as  he  idly  smokes 
a  cigar — and  you  are  journeying  to  where  men  are 
fighting  and  dying  not  far  from  this  spot. 

As  you  press  forward,  the  road  becomes  more  con- 
gested. Among  the  throng  of  wagons  you  observe  now 
and  then  a  field  kitchen;  and  two  or  three  field  guns 
attract  your  attention.  Yet,  though  filled  with  vehicles, 
men  and  horses,  the  road  is  not  choked;  and  while 
your  automobile  now  must  move  at  the  slow  pace  of 
the  general  throng,  its  progress  is  not  halted  for  a 
single  instant  until  a  village  is  reached  within  perhaps 
three  miles  of  Bolimoff,  the  center  of  the  German 
battle  front  in  this  particular  action,  which  extends 
many  miles  to  right  and  left. 

This  hamlet  and  the  road  beyond  are  packed  with 


86       WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

wagons  bearing  provender  for  horses,  provisions  for 
men  and  food  for  the  voracious  guns.  Many  mounted 
officers  ride  amidst  the  jam  of  this  war  caravan.  You 
wonder  why  this  congested  mass  of  men,  horses  and 
wagons  does  not  become  locked  in  the  narrow  road- 
way. Yet  only  now  and  then  is  there  a  brief  stop, 
never  lasting  longer  than  two  or  three  minutes,  when 
again  you  go  forward. 

A  little  later  you  find  the  cause:  the  hard-frozen, 
snow-covered  road  has  become  slippery  and  one  of  the 
six  horses  drawing  an  ammunition  wagon  slips  and 
falls.  The  teamster,  aided  by  one  or  two  others,  helps 
the  prostrate  animal  to  his  feet,  speaking  words  of 
encouragement  in  kindly  tones.  Time  and  again  you 
witness  repetitions  of  this  incident.  At  every  such 
enforced  halt  teamsters,  cavalrymen  and  even  officers 
carefully  examine  the  feet  of  the  other  horses,  remov- 
ing solicitously  every  particle  of  hard  earth,  every 
pebble  or  other  fragment  of  caked  snow  and  dirt  until 
the  frog  is  as  clean  as  when  the  horse  left  his  quarters. 

A  side  road  joins  the  main  thoroughfare  and  this 
is  packed  with  infantry.  A  pause  comes  until  these  are 
well  on  the  highway;  and  again  you  witness  more 
cleaning  of  the  horses'  feet. 

By  now  the  firing  of  great  guns  is  filling  the  heavens 
with  a  very  havoc  of  sound.  The  dense  mass  of  am- 
munition and  provision  wagons  is  thinning  out,  some 
going  by  a  side  road  to  one  part  of  the  field,  others  in  a 
different  direction,  and  the  remainder  straight  on  at  a 
sharper  pace.  So  you  are  able  to  pass  the  infantry. 

They  have  marched  sixty  kilometers,  but  in  no  hurry 
and  with  proper  rest  and  abundant  food.  They  look 


"Food  for  the  voracious  guns."  German  ammunition  train  going 
to  a  section  of  the  batteries.  A  little  incident  in  a  snowy  battle 
day.  Battle  of  Bolimoff,  Russian  Poland  (before  Warsaw) 
January  31st,  1915.  The  German  organization  is  as  perfect  as  the 
good  cheer  and  physical  fitness  of  the  German  soldiers. 


A   DAY   OF   WINTER   BATTLE         87 

quite  fresh  and  again  you  note  the  circumstance  that 
you  observed  with  surprise  on  the  western  front — the 
well-fed,  physically  fit  appearance  of  these  men;  and 
the  good  humor,  too,  a  smile  never  failing  to  -bring  an 
answering  smile. 

A  regiment  of  Uhlans  rides  in  the  open  field  near  the 
road ;  the  horse  of  one  falls,  its  foot  slipping  on  the  icy 
slope  of  a  ditch;  the  rider's  leg  is  caught  and  slightly 
hurt;  he  pays  no  attention  to  this  but,  limping,  helps 
his  mount  to  rise,  patting  the  animal's  neck  in  consola- 
tion. 

And  so  you  reach  and  pass  the  spot  by  the  side  of  a 
road  in  an  open  field  where  General  von  Mackensen 
and  his  staff  are  stationed.  Across  the  road  are  a  few 
houses  of  a  tiny  hamlet.  Many  times  that  day  you 
observe  this  fighting  General,  one  of  Field  Marshal 
von  Hindenburg's  most  trusted  lieutenants.  He  is 
tall  and  slender,  his  gray  hair  and  mustache  adding 
to  the  distinction  of  his  appearance. 

Just  now,  he  is  walking  to  and  fro  talking  with  an 
officer,  the  remainder  of  his  staff  standing  apart. 

Some  three  hours  later,  when  you  again  pass,  go- 
ing to  another  part  of  the  field,  the  General  is  sitting 
alone  in  his  automobile;  and  toward  the  close  of  day, 
when  you  once  more  go  to  the  front  of  the  German 
center,  he  is  pacing  back  and  forth  by  himself,  his 
head  bent  forward  in  thought,  his  long,  gray  military 
overcoat,  with  cape  about  shoulders,  reaching  almost 
to  his  heels. 

An  elongated,  cloud-colored  object  floats  high  in  the 
air  a  mile  to  your  left,  or  rather  hangs,  stationary, 
sloping  backward  from  below.  It  is  an  observation  war 


88       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

balloon,  a  "captive  balloon,"  as  it  is  called,  held  to  the 
earth  by  a  cable  and  drawn  down  if  nothing  can  be 
seen  from  it  or  if  the  fire  of  the  enemy  upon  it  be- 
comes too  hot.  Some  time  later  this  aircraft  is  brought 
to  the  earth.  The  falling  snow  and  dark  clouds  prob- 
ably made  it  ineffective,  rather  than  the  enemy's  fire. 
It  does  not  matter :  much  more  is  to  be  seen  from  an- 
other point  you  are  soon  to  visit.  Indeed  something  is 
to  be  observed  all  about  you. 

As  you  have  advanced  toward  the  scene  of  action, 
the  roar  of  artillery  has  grown  into  a  continuous  series 
of  thunder  peals.  You  detect  a  new  note,  not  heard 
from  the  batteries  before  Arras  in  France  and  Mes- 
sines  in  Belgium.  In  ten  minutes  you  find  its  source. 
Not  twenty  feet  from  either  side  of  the  road,  just 
behind  and  indeed  on  the  edge  of  the  town  of  Bolimoff, 
are  two  Austrian  thirty  and  a  half  centimeter  mortars. 

They  are  in  slow  action,  and  you  stop  for  a  while 
to  watch  their  work.  An  artilleryman  turns  a  wheel  at 
the  mortar's  side,  and  its  muzzle  rises  until  the  thick 
monster  points  upward  at  a  decided  angle.  By  a 
mechanism,  the  great  shell  is  lifted  into  place;  for  such 
missiles  weigh  upwards  of  a  thousand  pounds.  Then 
comes  an  earth-shaking  explosion,  and  a  twisting, 
shuddering  mingle  of  howl  and  scream  as  the  giant 
explosive  hurtles  through  the  air. 

On  right  and  left,  perhaps  three  hundred  yards  from 
the  roadway,  are  the  heavy,  German  field  batteries 
of  twenty-one  centimeter  guns.  They  are  in  rapid  ac- 
tion, trying  to  silence  the  Russian  batteries  three  or 
four  miles  away.  The  Russians  are  answering,  but  not 


A   DAY   OF   WINTER   BATTLE         89 

plentifully  nor  with  good  aim,  at  least  so  far  as  these 
particular  batteries  are  concerned. 

You  see  only  two  geysers  of  earth  shoot  high  in  the 
air,  perhaps  forty  or  fifty  feet.  They  are  from  two 
heavy  Russian  shells  exploding  in  quick  succession. 
But  no  more  fall,  and  even  these  two  are  some  yards 
to  the  right  of  the  last  gun  of  the  German  battery. 
You  think  them  quite  harmless,  and  would  walk  over 
to  see  the  holes  they  make  in  the  ground,  but,  luckily, 
you  are  diverted.  Later  in  the  day  you  are  to  find  that 
one  of  the  shells  fell  near  enough  to  do  at  least  a  frac- 
tion of  its  intended  deadly  work. 

The  lighter  German  batteries  are  in  ceaseless  action, 
some  distance  in  front  of  these  larger  guns.  This  and 
another  fact  apprise  you  that  there  is  no  imminent 
danger  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  heavier 
artillery:  enormous  tents  are  just  behind  and  within  a 
stone's  throw  of  the  big  ordnance. 

So  you  feel  secure  although,  of  course,  you  are  in 
reach  of  the  long-range  Russian  cannon,  as  two  of 
their  bursting  shells  testified  a  few  moments  before. 
More  of  them  may  come  any  time  and  fall  anywhere. 
But  this  is  unlikely — the  German  officers  think  the 
more  powerful  Russian  artillery  silenced  or  drawn 
back. 

These  great  tents  are  field  stables  for  hundreds  of 
horses;  for  the  German  army  horse,  whether  cavalry, 
artillery  or  commissariat,  is  as  well  cared  for  in  the 
field  as  in  the  permanent  stables  of  the  peace  establish- 
ment. Also,  parks  of  field  artillery,  with  horses  har- 
nessed to  the  gun  carriages,  and  artillerymen  are  stand- 


90       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

ing  ready,  apparently  waiting  for  orders  to  go  into 
action;  so  are  a  large  number  of  Uhlans,  each  man 
beside  his  saddled  and  bridled  mount. 

Hundreds  of  men  not  thus  occupied  are  moving 
about  upon  their  various  duties;  everything  is  quite 
casual,  indeed  indifferent;  it  is  all  a  matter  of  course. 
From  the  appearance  and  conduct  of  these  men,  you 
never  would  imagine  that  a  battle  is  going  forward 
and  that  they  are  within  its  edges.  As  for  the  roar  of 
artillery,  they  are  so  used  to  it  that  they  are  not  con- 
scious of  it;  it  no  longer  registers  an  impression  on  the 
brain.  They  pay  absolutely  no  attention  to  the  few 
bursting  Russian  shells. 

You  make  your  lunch  with  the  common  soldiers,  one 
of  whom  politely  offers  you  his  tin  soup  dish  and  an- 
other his  spoon,  the  handle  of  which  is  a  fork,  apolo- 
gizing that  he  has  nothing  better.  The  food  is  a  thick 
soup  made  of  navy  beans,  with  slices  and  chunks  of 
pork.  Also,  of  course,  there  is  plenty  of  brown  bread. 
It  is  amazing  the  quantity  of  provisions  the  commis- 
sariat manages  to  get  to  the  front.  The  soldier  is  never 
without  abundant  food,  so  far  as  you  have  been  able 
to  observe. 

The  battery  on  the  left,  and  a  short  distance  in 
front  of  the  canvas  stables  has  been  in  rapid  action, 
and  you  go  to  it  to  see  the  gunners  face  to  face.  There 
are  three  huge  guns  standing  on  the  ground's  surface 
and  not  in  pits,  and  screened  from  anything  but 
close  scrutiny  of  the  enemy  by  a  fringe  of  evergreens 
fixed  firmly  in  the  earth.  Even  from  a  short  space 
away  these  look  like  growing  trees. 

The  men  have  given  the  guns  feminine  names — one 


A   DAY   OF   WINTER   BATTLE         91 

is  Anna,  you  read ;  another  is  Elsa,  while  the  third  is 
Edith.  Where  they  picked  up  the  name  Edith  puzzles 
you,  for  it  is  not  a  familiar  German  name. 

These  gun  squads  have  rigged  up  a  little  house  of 
brown  canvas.  On  a  board  above  the  entrance  you  read 
that  this  is  "Villa  Brat  Kartofflen,"  that  is,  "Villa 
Baked  Potatoes."  Anna  has  just  sent  her  compliments 
six  thousand  five  hundred  meters  to  the  enemy  and, 
for  a  time,  the  battery  ceases  action. 

In  Villa  Baked  Potatoes  several  gunners  are  sitting 
on  empty  cartridge  cases  around  a  tiny  stove.  They 
make  room  for  you  with  smiling  hospitality. 

The  other  men  are  busy  about  this  and  that  detail 
of  the  guns,  which  for  the  moment  are  inactive.  Yet 
all  is  ready  for  instant  service — at  any  moment  orders 
may  be  telephoned  for  firing;  and  the  roar,  the  leaping 
flames,  the  screaming  shells  will  again  entertain  you. 

So  in  this  breath  of  leisure  you  would  like  a  picture 
of  one  of  these  war  maidens,  Anna,  Elsa  or  Edith,  and 
also  of  Villa  Baked  Potatoes  and  its  tenants.  A  young 
lieutenant  offers  to  manipulate  your  kodak  for  you, 
and  the  gunners  all  gather  about  laughing,  for  all  the 
world  like  so  many  children,  each  one  anxious  to  be  in 
the  picture. 

Still  no  advance  in  force,  no  general  movement  of 
masses  of  men,  nothing  but  the  monotony  of  the  per- 
petual roar  of  cannon ;  all  are  waiting  until  the  artillery 
does  its  work  thoroughly  and  even  more  until  the  day 
becomes  clearer — it  still  snows  and  the  skies  are  dark. 

From  the  center  of  the  near-by  town  in  front  of  you, 
a  church  steeple  lifts  itself  high  above  the  few  trees 
and  surrounding  houses.  You  are  advised  that  within 


92       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

the  highest  point  of  its  tower,  the  Germans  have  their 
observation  station  from  which  are  noted  the  effect 
of  the  German  fire  and  directions  telephoned  accord- 
ingly to  the  various  batteries. 

You  are  informed  also  that  despite  this  placid  rear, 
where  only  the  big  guns  are  at  work,  and  an  occasional 
Russian  shell  tears  up  the  ground,  the  German  and 
Russian  infantry  face  each  other  from  opposing 
trenches  beyond  the  tower.  Only  the  overpowering 
and  dominating  thunder  of  the  great  guns  prevents 
your  hearing  the  crackle  of  the  thousands  of  rifles. 

Russian  trenches  are  about  to  be  taken — news  has 
come  that  the  Germans  already  have  captured  one. 
From  this  church  steeple  alone  can  this  fighting  be 
seen. 

To  the  church,  then,  you  make  your  way,  and  after 
a  space  permission  comes  to  go  to  the  top.  You  mount 
by  a  winding  stair  of  brick  through  the  pitch  black 
shaft  of  the  tower  to  a  large  space  with  three  big 
arched  openings,  two  of  them  boarded  up.  Through 
the  unobstructed  one,  a  section  of  the  field  of  action  is 
before  you. 

For  a  while  you  examine  it  by  the  aid  of  strong 
field  glasses,  until  told  to  mount  the  ladder  leading 
to  the  final  loft,  just  beneath  the  sharply  sloping 
roof  of  the  belfry.  Here  you  find  the  very  heart  of 
activity,  the  busiest  single  spot  you  have  discovered  in 
all  Germany. 

A  general  of  artillery  sits  in  the  semi-darkness  on  a 
little  stool,  his  eye  fixed  on  the  mirror  of  a  curious 
observation  telescope,  bent  at  the  top  like  an  ear  trum- 
pet, its  flange  looking  through  a  small  opening  made 


A   DAY   OF   WINTER   BATTLE         93 

in  the  belfry  roof.  He  notes  the  effect  of  every  German 
shell  on  either  Russian  trench  or  battery,  and  with 
quick,  accurate  decisiveness  gives  brief  orders  to  offi- 
cers seated  at  telephones,  who  in  turn  bark  them  out  in 
sharp  detail  over  the  wires  to  the  proper  gun  squads  in 
the  field.  And  now  you  recall  that  in  the  church  en- 
trances were  clusters  of  wires,  in  the  loft  wires — every- 
where wires. 

You  tarry  but  a  minute  or  two,  scanning  the  field 
through  this  distance-grasping  instrument,  and  then 
climb  down  to  the  loft  below;  for  these  men  are  ab- 
sorbed in  deadly,  imminent  and  incessant  duty,  and 
you  would  not  trespass  upon  their  courtesy. 

By  aid  of  that  observation  telescope,  supplemented 
by  long  and  steady  gaze  at  the  opening  of  the  loft  be- 
low, you  make  out  something  of  what  is  going  on  in 
the  field  before  you. 

A  long  line  of  men,  each  a  short  space  from  the 
other,  is  moving  forward.  They  do  not  appear  to 
rush.  They  look  as  if  they  were  clad  in  black,  so  sharp 
is  their  outline  upon  the  dead  white  of  the  snow.  One 
lies  down ;  another  sinks  to  a  sitting  posture.  Midway 
of  the  field  back  of  this  line,  two  men  are  walking. 
They  do  not  seem  to  hurry.  At  another  point  a  man 
half -reclines  in  the  snow,  leaning  on  his  elbow. 

Along  a  cross-road,  several  wagons  crawl.  In  the 
distance  are  a  cloud  of  figures — the  Russians  you  are 
told.  But  why  are  they  not  in  their  trenches?  It  is 
very  confusing  for  all  its  apparent  simplicity — and 
deadly  in  spite  of  its  seeming  mildness. 

"Here  come  some  Russian  prisoners,"  a  voice  at 
your  side  quietly  remarks. 


94       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

You  look,  and  on  the  road  leading  from  the  field  to- 
ward the  town  marches  a  column  of  disarmed  men  in 
charge  of  two  or  three  Uhlans. 

You  hasten  down  to  get  a  closer  view  of  these  cap- 
tured soldiers;  but  you  miss  them  for  the  moment, 
though  you  are  to  see  them,  and  many  more,  later  in 
the  day.  But  now  the  wounded  who  are  still  able  to 
walk  come  straggling  directly  by  you,  for  the  tempo- 
rary hospital  is  in  a  broad,  one-story,  brick  building  in 
the  same  street,  only  a  few  hundred  feet  away.  Most 
of  them  have  been  hit  in  the  head,  face,  hand  or  arm, 
the  familiar  wounds  of  the  trenches. 

Each  is  -bandaged,  having  received  first  aid  in  the 
field  hospital  near  the  firing-line.  The  blood  is  soaking 
through  these  bandages.  Only  one  man  passes  who 
has  been  shot  through  the  foot ;  he  limps  along  on  the 
arm  of  a  comrade,  carrying  his  perforated  boot.  After 
bandaging,  a  thick  woolen  sock  has  been  pulled  over 
his  wounded  foot.  He  is  quite  willing  to  tell  about  it, 
and  laughs  as  he  poses  for  a  kodak  snapshot. 

You  have  seen  wounded  men  before,  hundreds  and 
hundreds  of  them ;  but  these  had  been  in  hospital  trains, 
field  hospitals,  or  permanent  hospitals.  For  a  long  time 
you  have  been  anxious  to  see  how  men  looked  and 
acted  when  newly  hurt  on  the  battlefield  itself.  And 
here  they  are  before  you. 

The  injured  ones  appear  to  accept  their  plight  with 
nonchalant  indifference.  Are  they  and  you  and  all 
male  creatures  callous,  you  wonder;  for  a  few  weeks 
before  you  had  read  a  woman's  description  of  wounded 
men  which  was  so  ghastly  and  sickening  that  you  felt 
quite  undone.  Yet  now  with  the  reality  before  your 


Shot  three  times,  but  head  up  and  still  game.  "What  spirit !  You 
feel  like  shouting,  hurrah  ! "  The  white  on  the  coat  is  snow  sticking 
to  and  covering  the  dripping  blood.  Wounded  German  soldiers 
coming  in  from  the  firing  line  just  beyond  the  town.  Battle  of 
Bolimoff,  (near  Warsaw)  Russian  Poland,  January  31st,  1915.  The 
fortitude  and  staying  power  of  the  German  soldier  is  astonishing. 


A   DAY   OF   WINTER   BATTLE         95 

eyes,  you  are  not  so  thrilled  as  you  were  by  this  gifted 
lady's  shuddering  lines. 

Most  of  those  with  wounds  in  the  head  have  some 
blood  on  their  faces ;  it  creeps  beneath  the  white  of  the 
wrappings.  Still,  many  of  these  are  not  even  pale 
— you  can  see  that  by  such  parts  of  their  faces  as 
are  not  splotched  with  blood.  Some,  of  course,  are 
pallid.  But  most  appear  unconcerned,  and  all  quite 
resolute. 

Now  and  then  there  is  one  who  seems  to  be  ill — 
from  nausea,  you  are  told.  A  very  young  soldier  looks 
very  sick;  he  seems  dazed.  Surprise  and  wonder  are 
written  on  his  features. 

You  look  into  his  particular  case  and  find  that  he  is 
a  boy  seventeen  years  old,  a  volunteer.  His  condition 
would  excite  the  supersensitive  to  paroxysms  of  pity; 
as  a  matter  of  fact  he  is  not  badly  hurt.  He  will  be 
all  right  in  a  week  and  in  a  month  he  will  be  a  veteran 
— a  veteran  and  very  proud  of  this  day's  experience. 
It  is  possible  that  to-morrow  he  will  write  a  letter  to 
father  and  mother  full  of  gladness  and  hearty  cheer; 
just  that  has  happened  many  times. 

But  here  comes  another  who  is  in  worse  case.  You 
judge  him  to  be  about  twenty-five  years  of  age.  He 
staggers  with  weakness,  although  upheld  by  sturdy 
comrades  on  either  side.  He  has  been  shot  three  times 
— once  on  the  scalp,  once  in  the  hand,  and  once  through 
the  shoulder.  It  is  a  miracle  he  can  walk  at  all — but 
he  does,  and  proudly.  The  man's  fortitude  is  amazing. 

The  blood  has  dripped  all  over  his  clothing  and  the 
snow  falling  upon  it  has  crusted  into  white  patches 
made  scarlet  again  by  the  red  drops  splashing  upon 


96       WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

them.  Yet  though  weak  from  exhaustion,  his  head 
is  held  high  and  defiant.  How  game !  What  spirit ! 
You  feel  like  shouting  hurrah ! 

Long  since  the  building  which  has  been  comman- 
deered for  a  hospital  is  crowded  and  a  throng  of 
wounded  wait  their  turn  before  the  door.  Cigarettes 
are  produced  and  everybody  smokes.  There  is  no  sign 
of  depression  nor  any  depressing  talk.  They  have 
done  their  duty  and  were  wounded  in  doing  it.  They 
will  do  their  duty  again  and  still  again  and  at  last  be 
killed,  perhaps.  To  them,  no  matter! 

Wounds,  death,  life, — they  are  counters  in  the  game 
these  men  are  playing,  the  glorious  game  of  patriotism. 
They  understand  it  very  well.  Come  not  to  these  men 
with  smug  sympathy  and  stuffy  platitudes.  They  will 
have  none  of  it. 

After  all,  stamina  is  good  to  look  upon.  Perhaps  it 
is  just  as  well  that  civilization  has  not  whittled  away 
entirely  the  primal  strength  of  man. 

All  the  time  the  Austrian  mortars  and  heavy  Ger- 
man batteries  in  the  rear  of  the  town  keep  up  their 
bombardment  of  the  Russian  positions,  the  shells  sing- 
ing, howling,  screaming  over  the  town.  Some  of  them 
go  right  over  the  church  in  whose  tower  you  have  been 
and  around  which  you  now  are  idly  strolling. 

The  concussion  from  each  discharge  of  the  Austrian 
mortars  shakes  the  building.  You  saw  the  boards 
nailed  over  the  openings  vibrate  and  felt  the  quiver 
of  the  whole  structure,  when  you  were  in  the  loft. 
A  plume  of  earth  spouts  from  an  exploding  Russian 
shell  exactly  in  line  with  the  church,  at  which  plainly 
it  was  directed. 


A   DAY   OF   WINTER   BATTLE         97 

The  aim  is  excellent,  but  the  shell  falls  short — at 
least  an  hundred  yards  from  its  target,  you  judge.  But 
an  officer  remarks,  indifferently,  that  it  is  not  more 
than  half  that  distance  away. 

The  Russians  have  begun  too  late  to  shell  the  church 
tower;  all  day  long  you  have  wondered  why  they  did 
not  concentrate  their  long  range,  big  guns  on  this  build- 
ing, obviously  the  German  observation  station.  One 
explanation  is  that  earlier  in  the  day,  when  their  larger 
shells  fell  near  the  batteries  beyond  the  church  and 
could  have  destroyed  the  tower,  the  falling  snow  made 
it  invisible  to  the  Russian  observers  who  could  see  only 
the  flash  from  the  German  guns,  at  which  the  Russian 
artillerymen  therefore  directed  their  return  fire;  and 
now,  forced  back  a  space,  their  long  range  artillery 
can  not  quite  reach  this  most  important  objective. 

You  now  go  to  the  left  wing  of  the  battle  line  to- 
ward Sochatschew.  Back  past  the  Austrian  mortars 
still  at  their  clumsy  toil ;  past  General  von  Mackensen's 
headquarters ;  across  a  railroad  on  which  stands  a  long 
train  of  coaches,  the  engine  with  steam  up,  waiting  for 
those  who  are  not  wounded  seriously  enough  for  the 
hospital  train;  and  then  by  another  road,  at  an  acute 
angle. 

The  fields  and  hills  here  seem  quite  deserted,  and, 
at  first,  nothing  appears  to  be  happening  save  an  artil- 
lery duel.  You  see  only  flashes  from  the  Russian  can- 
non. Yet  between  these  two  contending  batteries,  thou- 
sands of  Russians  and  Germans  face  one  another  in 
their  trenches;  and  soon  you  catch  the  rattling  sound 
of  heavy  rifle  firing  as  the  automobile  speeds  along  the 
hard  frozen  road. 


98       WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

What  a  multitude  of  men  there  must  be — the  clatter 
of  the  rifles  is  like  the  sound  of  a  thousand  threshing 
machines  such  as  you  worked  at  as  a  youth.  Still  there 
is  no  thrill  in  it  for  you.  You  are  out  of  rifle  range — 
but  not  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Russian  cannon,  even 
their  light  field  pieces.  No,  not  by  a  good  deal.  You 
are  not  aware  of  this  now;  but  you  learn  it  in  a  mo- 
ment. 

An  embankment  of  the  highway  is  reached  behind 
which  a  score  of  German  officers  are  at  work.  One  of 
them,  evidently  the  commander  of  that  wing,  is  pacing 
to  and  fro  by  himself.  Through  an  upright  field  tele- 
scope curved  at  the  top  another  officer  studies  the 
enemy's  ground.  The  automobile  stops  but : 

"Go  on!  Go  on!  They  will  see  you  and  locate  us,  if 
you  stand  there !"  comes  the  sharp  command. 

At  full  speed  the  order  is  obeyed,  and  the  auto  fair- 
ly flies  forward.  As  it  goes,  the  crash  of  a  German 
battery  on  the  left  slaps  your  ear  drum  like  the  blow  of 
an  open  hand,  so  close  to  the  road  it  is,  and  yet  so  well 
screened  that  you  do  not  see  it.  It  is  shelling  the  Rus- 
sian position  directly  to  the  right  of  the  road,  but  a 
long  distance  away  and  is  firing  over  your  head, — the 
shells  speak  to  you  closely  and  familiarly  as  they  fly 
just  above  you. 

The  Russians  are  answering,  although  you  know 
this  only  by  the  red  signals  their  guns  display  as  they 
are  discharged,  for  no  shells  fall  near  you  or  indeed  on 
the  roadway  you  are  traveling. 

In  less  than  half  a  mile  stands  a  farm  building.  Here 
a  sentry  runs  into  the  highway  motioning  for  the  auto 
to  stop.  It  stops. 


A   DAY    OF   WINTER   BATTLE         99 

"Go  back  at  once!"  is  the  order.  Twice  that  after- 
noon two  automobiles  with  officers  have  drawn  the 
Russian  fire  along  that  very  stretch  of  road,  you  are 
informed;  and  you  will  invite  it  again  if  you  do  not 
vanish  and  vanish  quickly. 

Are  they  trying  to  frighten  you,  you  wonder.  Are 
they  making  a  joke  at  your  civilian  expense  to  tell  in 
the  laughing  bivouac  ? 

But  no,  apparently  not;  for  the  sentry  himself  seems 
alarmed — his  voice,  eye,  face,  gesture  advertise  the 
genuineness  of  his  anxiety. 

Also  you  note  an  unusual  circumstance :  glancing  at 
the  house  while  the  sentry  talks  to  the  young  officer 
with  you  in  the  automobile,  you  observe  another  sol- 
dier, his  rifle  held  in  both  hands  by  his  side,  ready  for 
instant  use,  the  left  hand  grasping  the  elevated  barrel, 
the  right  hand  the  stock  at  the  trigger  guard.  It  is 
either  a  ridiculous  posture,  or  else  the  Russians  are 
dangerously  near,  or  perhaps  he  actually  means  to 
shoot,  if  the  auto  does  not  turn  back  as  ordered. 

But  back  it  goes,  and  at  a  higher  speed  than  it  had 
come.  The  chauffeur  now  understands  that  not  only 
are  we  between  the  Russian  and  the  German  fire,  but 
that  we  are  so  near  the  German  batteries  at  which  the 
Russians  are  aiming  that  to  stand  still,  even  for  a  short 
time,  on  that  elevated  plainly-seen  road  would  be  sure 
to  bring  upon  the  auto  the  practice  of  the  Russian 
marksmen.  Between  two  fires!  The  chauffeur  needs 
no  further  urging — the  auto  quivers  as  he  throws  on 
every  ounce  of  power.  Yet,  fast  as  we  go,  the  shells 
sing  an  intimate  song  as  they  fly  above  us. 

And  thus  you  leave  this  place  which  appeared  pas- 


ioo    WHAT;  is  BACK  OF  THE  WAR 

sive  and  secure  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before,  but  which 
turned  out  to  be  the  hottest  spot  in  the  day's  experi- 
ence. 

You  start  for  the  right  wing,  but  an  officer's  chance 
remark — that  you  there  will  see  one  of  the  Czar's 
chateaux — misleads  you ;  you  think  you  are  being  taken 
away  from  action  on  a  sightseeing  excursion.  So  you 
insist  on  going  back  to  the  center  where  at  least  there 
are  masses  of  men,  large  movement,  the  white  and 
crimson  bandaged  witnesses  of  battle,  the  prisoners 
and  the  flaming,  smoking  guns.  Thus  a  too  alert  sus- 
picion trips  you  up ;  for,  by  not  going  to  the  right  wing, 
you  miss  tough  fighting  and  swift  action  as  you  learn 
long  afterward. 

Still,  the  return  to  the  center  is  not  bootless.  You 
meet  and  make  your  way  through  a  most  extraordinary 
procession.  Scores  upon  scores  of  provision  wagons 
are  moving  backward.  Even  more  ammunition  vans 
are  going  backward  too.  Some  light  field  guns  rumble 
along  in  the  same  direction.  Many  Red  Cross  motor- 
ambulances,  doors  shut  and  windows  curtained,  pick 
their  way  carefully,  yet  not  slowly,  toward  the  rear;  a 
long  column  of  infantry  trudges  past  faced  the  same 
way. 

Is  this  then  a  retreat,  you  wonder?  To  your  unprac- 
ticed  eye  it  so  appears.  But  why  no  gloom  on  the  faces 
of  these  marching  men?  Why  no  signs  of  fear,  why  no 
hurry  ?  They  even  make  jokes.  One  young  soldier  slips 
and  cries  out,  laughing:  "This  is  more  slippery  than 
the  ice  palace  in  Berlin !" — a  famous  resort  where  peo- 
ple of  the  German  capital  skate  on  manufactured  ice. 

Now  comes  a  squad  of  wounded  soldiers,  every  one 


A  DAY  OF  WINTER  BATTLE   101 

hurt  in  the  head,  face,  hand  or  arm,  like  those  you  had 
seen  earlier  in  the  day,  -but  swinging  along  quite  con- 
tentedly as  if  on  an  ordinary  march  instead  of  making 
their  way  to  a  larger  hospital.  Now  and  then  one  or 
two  wounded  men  ride  in  a  wagon  which  is  giving 
them  a  lift.  Indeed,  these  empty  provision  carts  could 
carry  all  the  injured.  But  most  of  them,  it  would  ap- 
pear, prefer  to  walk. 

And  now,  trudging  along  through  the  field,  parallel 
with  and  just  next  to  the  ditch  at  the  roadside,  comes 
a  score  or  more  rather  large  men  with  unfamiliar 
clothing,  yet  suggesting  in  color  the  German,  though 
browner.  They  wear  a  peculiar  headgear — a  rimless 
sloping  cap  made,  apparently,  of  grayish  close-curling 
wool,  and  with  faces  distinctly  different  from  the  Ger- 
man type. 

These  are  Russian  prisoners,  in  charge  of  a  noncom- 
missioned officer  and  a  single  Uhlan.  Two  or  three 
carry  spades.  These  captured  ones  do  not  seem  down- 
cast. They  appear  even  cheerful.  Some  actually  are 
laughing,  and  all  grin  as  they  are  ordered  to  stop  to 
be  kodaked. 

It  is  late  afternoon,  the  clouds  have  broken  and  the 
declining  sun  throws  its  belated  rays  almost  horizon- 
tally. You  hear  a  whir  from  above  and,  looking,  be- 
hold what  you  have  been  searching  for  all  day — a 
"Taube,"  flying  perhaps  a  thousand  feet  over  your  head 
and  mounting  by  spirals  to  greater  and  gun-safe 
heights.  Soon  it  makes  off  for  a  survey  of  the  Russian 
positions.  Before  the  sun  sinks  from  sight  General 
von  Mackensen  will  have  a  report  from  this  scout  of 
the  air. 


102     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

And  now  more  foot  soldiers  come  marching  rear- 
ward on  the  other  side  of  the  road.  There  are  two  long 
columns,  and  you  note  several  standards  encased  in 
their  rainproof  covering.  Then  passes  a  troop  of  cav- 
alry, and  still  more  Red  Cross  automobiles.  Then  more 
Russian  prisoners — a  long  line  of  them  this  time — at 
least  four  hundred,  you  judge — or  there  might  be  five 
or  six  hundred. 

At  the  head  of  the  column  is  a  Russian  officer.  Not 
a  man  of  them  is  wounded.  Earlier  in  the  day,  you  had 
seen  eight  Russian  prisoners  who  were  injured  coming 
from  a  separate  hospital  room  in  Bolimoff,  each  one 
with  his  hurt  dressed  and  bandaged  exactly  like  the 
German  victims  of  the  trenches,  so  far  as  your  un- 
skilled judgment  could  detect. 

And  thus  you  pass,  the  variegated  array,  horses  and 
wagons,  guns  and  wounded,  prisoners  and  ambulances, 
infantry  and  cavalry,  woven  together  by  war's  eccen- 
tric loom.  And  so  you  return  to  the  center,  back  past 
the  batteries  and  between  the  mortars,  back  again  into 
Bolimoff  and  the  church  with  its  military  beehive  of  a 
belfry.  More  wounded  are  coming  in,  just  like  the  ones 
that  you  had  seen.  Bandages  and  blood,  blood  and 
bandages;  yet  no  weakness  of  spirit  in  face  or  eye. 
Manhood  is  sturdy  stuff  when  put  to  the  test. 

Out  of  a  doorway  appears  a  litter  borne  by  four  sol- 
diers. Upon  it  lies  an  object  that  fixes  and  startles  you. 
An  arm  is  gone,  and  a  leg — that  much  the  scant  cover- 
ing reveals.  And  the  face  is  almost  black.  The  work, 
this,  of  one  of  the  Russian  shells  you  had  seen  explode 
and  thought  at  the  time,  in  your  ignorance,  so  innocu- 
ous. 


Transfer  of  German  regiment  from  one  part  of  field  to  another, 
Battle  of  Bolimoff,  Russian  Poland,  "an  hour's  automobile 
journey  from  Warsaw,"  January  31st,  1915.  The  men  are  cheerful 
and  fresh  after  a  hard  day.  "Is  this,  then,  a  retreat  you 
wonder  ?  But  why  no  gloom  on  the  face  of  these  marching  men  ? 
Why  no  signs  of  fear,  why  no  hurry  ?  They  even  make  jokes." 


A  DAY  OF  WINTER  BATTLE   103 

Yet  the  blast  from  it  had  shattered  this  man's  arm 
and  leg  and  blown  dirt  and  powder  deep  into  the 
skin  of  his  face.  But  he  had  not  died  at  once,  so  power- 
ful was  his  vitality.  The  German  surgeons  have  done 
their  best  to  keep  him  alive,  amputating  arm  and  leg, 
but  all  to  no  purpose.  And  so  they  are  carrying  him 
away. 

Night  is  falling  now  and  you  stop  to  watch  the  last 
shots  from  the  Austrian  mortars,  the  flame  from  their 
muzzles  leaping  seemingly  three  or  four  feet  at  each 
discharge.  The  artillery  fire  is  slackening  as  darkness 
deepens.  It  soon  ceases,  for  the  flashes  will  betray  the 
battery  positions  more  plainly,  notwithstanding  the  now 
open  sky.  For  the  clouds  have  cleared  entirely  from 
the  heavens;  the  stars  shine  out;  the  moon  floods  the 
scene  with  its  revealing,  yet  deceptive,  radiance. 

Now  that  the  cannon  are  mute,  you  hear  the  crackle 
of  the  rifles  from  the  trenches.  The  near  horizon  is 
snapping  with  sound.  You  talk  with  a  bandaged  sol- 
dier, the  side  of  whose  head  had  been  slightly  grazed 
by  a  bullet.  He  had  helped  to  take  a  trench  after  he 
had  been  hit. 

"Most  of  the  German  casualties  to-day,"  he  remarks, 
"have  been  caused  by  the  impetuousness  and  careless- 
ness of  soldiers  who  had  not  before  been  under  fire." 
He,  himself,  is  not  really  hurt,  he  says,  and  eagerly  de- 
clares that  he  will  be  back  in  the  trenches  in  two  or 
three  days. 

You  hear  a  long,  low  rumbling,  continuous,  uninter- 
mittent,  from  the  road  leading  back  to  Lowitsch.  Soon 
you  meet  a  line  of  ammunition  wagons ;  the  train  seems 
unending;  you  count  them  until  you  are  tired.  And 


104     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

provision  wagons,  too,  heavily  laden — all  these  are 
moving  to  the  front. 

These  wagons!  these  everlasting  wagons!  All  day 
you  have  seen  them.  They  were  the  first  moving  ob- 
jects to  greet  your  eyes  in  the  morning;  every  hour 
since,  they  have  rumbled  by  you ;  and  after  sunset  their 
noise  is  the  last  sound  to  address  your  ear,  smothering 
the  receding  patter  of  the  rifles.  Wagons,  ammuni- 
tion and  provision  trains,  wagons !  You  did  not  realize 
that  there  were  so  many  wagons  in  the  world ! 

Throughout  most  of  the  night,  these  streams  of  food 
and  cartridge-bearing  vehicles  will  go  forward,  dis- 
tributing provisions  for  man,  horse  and  gun,  along  the 
front  for  to-morrow's  need.  And  thus  you  learn  that 
there  has  been  no  retreat,  but  only  a  transfer  of  troops, 
a  disposition  of  wounded  and  prisoners,  a  replacing  of 
field  guns,  all  according  to  careful  plan  advised  by  the 
day's  events. 

Of  these  events  you  can  make  nothing,  yourself.  The 
goings  to  and  fro;  the  movements  of  men  forward  and 
then  backward,  yet  a  discernible  order  and  purpose  in 
distracting  confusion;  the  seemingly  futile  and  even 
unintelligent  battery  action,  one  section  of  guns  now 
idle  and  still  and  now  demoniacally  active  and  thun- 
derous— the  whole  of  it  appeals  to  your  jaded  senses 
as  a  conglomerate  of  the  fortuitous  and  accidental, 
and  yet  conspiring  with  some  far-reaching  plan. 

But  it  has  no  systematic,  clearly  outlined  meaning 
for  you.  Indeed,  most  of  the  officers  themselves  are  in 
little  better  case  than  yourself,  as  far  as  the  large  scope 
of  this  action  is  concerned.  The  soldiers,  of  course, 
know  only  that  they  are  units,  each  squad,  company  or 


A  DAY  OF  WINTER  BATTLE   105 

regiment  of  them  constituting  pawns  in  that  particu- 
lar battle  game.  Only  the  commanding  general  and 
selected  officers  of  his  staff  understand  the  reason  and 
the  plan.  In  these  the  whole  army  has  a  confidence 
that  is  absolute  and  undoubting. 

And  this  battle  itself — what  is  its  significance?  True, 
it  is  as  large  as  many  of  the  biggest  conflicts  of  our 
Civil  War.  Four  hundred  and  twenty  guns  and  scores 
of  thousands  of  men  on  one  side  alone,  more  than  an 
hundred  thousand  at  least.  And  yet  it  is  -but  a  tiny  sec- 
tion of  the  leviathan  battle  line,  two  or  three  hundred 
miles  long,  where  millions  of  men  on  both  sides  con- 
front one  another  and  strive  for  mastery. 

This  engagement,  which  you  have  witnessed  for 
twelve  flashing  hours,  (it  will  last  several  days),  is 
only  a  strategic  move.  Its  real  effect  may  be  felt  an 
hundred  miles  to  the  north  or  to  the  south.  Perhaps  it 
is  a  feint ;  perhaps  a  test  of  the  Russian  strength  in  offi- 
cers, guns  and  ammunition;  perhaps  a  tentative  effort 
to  break  the  enemy's  defense  at  this  specific  point;  per- 
haps anything  you  like. 

Of  one  thing  only  you  can  be  sure :  the  true  meaning 
of  the  battle  of  Bolimoff  will  not  be  known  to  the 
world  nor  to  the  Eastern  Army  itself  for  several  weeks 
after  it  is  over,  not  for  a  couple  of  fortnights  at  the 
very  least.  Not  till  then  will  be  revealed  its  real  signifi- 
cance, when  that  vast  and  complicated  strategy  shall 
have  been  consummated — a  strategy  which  deals  with 
thousands  of  guns,  millions  of  men  and  hundreds  of 
miles  of  operations. 

It  matters  not  that  large  numbers  of  men  may  be 
killed,  perhaps  thousands  wounded  and  certainly  many 


106     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

thousand  prisoners  taken;  all  these  are  details.  The 
Himalayan  magnitude  of  these  stupendous  operations 
bulks  before  your  mind's  eye  huge,  towering  and  vastly 
dark  as,  trying  to  think  upon  them,  you  dash  through 
the  bitter  cold  of  the  snowy  plains  of  Russian  Poland, 
the  moon  sailing  aloof  and  disdainful  through  the 
heavens,  the  stars  snapping  their  light  from  the  frigid 
and  unsympathetic  skies. 

You  are  stunned  by  the  immensity  of  it  all,  and 
are  glad  when  a  small  circumstance  claims  your  no- 
tice by  its  novelty  and  human  interest — a  drove  of 
cattle  driven  by  a  Polish  peasant  lumbering  along  in 
the  snow,  and  then  another,  and  still  a  third.  Perhaps 
they  are  for  the  army?  But  why,  then,  are  they  not 
in  charge  of  soldiers!  Yet  no  soldier  is  within  miles 
of  the  spot  excepting  the  infrequent  sentries  posted  at 
long  intervals  on  the  highway.  Neither  do  you  grasp 
the  meaning  of  this  incident.  Eighty  or  an  hundred 
fat  cattle  driven  through  the  snow  at  eleven  o'clock  of 
that  bitter  night  in  Russian  Poland — and  peasants 
driving  them ! 

But  the  big  plan — who  knows  that  ?  Only  four  men 
know  the  heart  of  it,  for  certain — three  men,  one  of 
whom  is  the  Emperor  in  far-off  France;  two  of  whom 
all  the  time  are  within  the  walls  of  the  ugly  modern 
Schloss  at  Posen,  and  one  of  whom  alternates  between 
this  military  brain  center  and  the  various  scenes  of 
action. 

These  three  men  are  Field  Marshal  von  Hinden- 
burg,  General  von  Ludendorff,  his  chief  of  staff,  and 
Colonel  Hoffman,  his  principal  aide.*  The  enemy 

*  See  conclusion  of  preceding  chapter. 


A  DAY  OF  WINTER  BATTLE   107 

might  employ  all  the  spies  in  the  world  without  re- 
sult. For  even  the  Germans  themselves  do  not  know 
the  plans  which  these  three  men  devise  and,  through 
an  amazingly  efficient  military  staff,  carry  out. 

The  working  of  the  mere  administrative  part  of  this 
mighty  organization,  intricate  and  yet  simple,  is  a  study 
in  the  immense  and  the  effective.  One  man  has  charge 
of  the  roads.  It  seems  absurd  and  impossible,  yet  it  is 
true,  that  he  and  his  assistants  know  the  condition  of 
every  yard  of  every  highway,  cross-road,  lane  or  path 
in  the  whole  region  from  the  Carpathians  to  the  Baltic 
up  to  the  German  firing-line.  It  is  his  duty  to  advise 
the  Field  Marshal  where  and  exactly  to  what  extent 
movements  of  troops  and  guns  are  practicable  in  any 
section ;  to  what  extent  and  how  soon  the  difficult  high- 
ways can  be  made  serviceable,  and  to  put  and  keep  in 
repair  roads  required  for  any  movement. 

Another  administrative  officer  has  charge  of  the 
heavy  task  of  getting  together  the  necessary  troops, 
and  having  them  at  any  particular  point  at  the  needed 
moment.  It  is  the  duty  of  another  to  see  that  food  for 
these  enormous  numbers  of  men  and  horses  is  at  the 
appointed  place  at  the  necessary  hour. 

Still  another  has  at  his  command  the  whole  surgical 
and  medical  organization  which  in  itself  is  a  small 
army. 

Yet  another  presides  over  a  department  where  the 
accounts  are  audited;  not  one  single  pfennig  is  allowed 
to  go  astray.  And  these  are  only  examples. 

Each  of  these  officers  has  a  peculiar  natural  gift  for 
his  particular  work;  and  this,  added  to  long  training 
and  exhaustive  study,  has  made  him  an  expert. 


108     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

This,  your  attempt  to  untangle  and  classify  a  small 
part  of  this  military  cosmos,  does  not  lessen  its  im- 
mensity. But  you  wonder  why  private  enterprise  has 
developed  no  such  efficiency  on  such  a  scale;  or  why 
the  rewards  of  private  industry  bring  forth  no  such  de- 
votion; or  why  exertion  which  these  men  put  forth 
smoothly,  without  friction  or  grumbling,  and  even 
with  joy  in  their  work,  staggers  even  the  civilian  mind 
to  contemplate. 

And  you  speculate,  too,  on  what  those  who  are  op- 
posing the  Germans  can  do  upon  like  lines;  if  better 
or  if  worse,  then  the  merits  of  the  opposing  civiliza- 
tions and  ideals  of  life,  which  makes  the  difference? 

Conflict  of  civilizations,  struggle  of  ideals,  contest 
of  philosophies! — is  it  possible  that  the  coming  years, 
which  hold  all  secrets,  will  reveal  that  this  world  war 
is  a  combat  of  hostile  cultures,  and  that,  facing  one  an- 
other and  striving  for  the  mastery,  are  irreconcilable 
ideas  ? 

Think  it  over  calmly  by  the  warm  glow  of  cozy  fire- 
side and  find  if,  in  the  end,  other  or  different  thoughts 
arise  than  those  which  come  on  the  wings  of  the  arctic 
blast  as  one  dashes  across  the  snowy  plains  under  the 
steel  blue  midnight  heavens  of  Russian  Poland  on  the 
night  of  January  31,  1915. 


SOME  FRUITS  OF  WAR* 

Prisoners 

GERMANY  has  within  her  borders  at  the  present 
moment  not  far  from  700,000  prisoners  of  war. 
At  the  end  of  December,  1914,  the  exact  number  was 
586,000,  of  whom  310,000  were  Russians,  220,000 
French,  40,000  Belgians  and  16,000  British. 

These  specific  figures  are  those  of  the  railway  de- 
partment, which  is  the  only  mathematically  accurate 
authority.  Among  the  British  are  included  Sikhs, 
Gourkas  and  others  from  India;  among  the  French, 
Ethiopians,  Arabs,  Moors  and  others  from  Africa. 

On  January  15,  1915,  a  semi-official  but  fairly  re- 
liable estimate  placed  the  total  number  of  prisoners  at 
633,000.  While  this  latter  figure  is  not  from  the 
railway  records,  it  is  believed  to  be  reasonably  depend- 
able. 

At  the  date  of  this  writing  (February  10,  1915) 
it  is  known  that  many  thousand  additional  prisoners 
have  been  taken.  Thus  an  approximate  of  700,000 
would  seem  to  be  not  unfair.  These  numbers  include 
no  civilian,  but  only  soldiers  actually  engaged  in  hos- 
tilities. 

*  Written  at  Berne,  Switzerland,  February  10,  1915. 

109 


110     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

This  same  semi-official  but  sufficiently  dependable 
estimate  placed  the  total  number  of  German  missing 
and  prisoners  at  154,000.  It  is  possible,  of  course, 
that  all  of  these  may  be  prisoners. 

Thus,  at  this  date  Germany  has  on  her  hands,  in  un- 
wounded,  able-bodied,  captured  enemies  about  one  per 
cent,  of  her  total  population  of  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren. 

To  feed  these  prisoners  means  the  providing  of 
enough  food  to  supply  the  whole  German  nation  for 
about  three  days  out  of  a  year.  Yet  it  is  firmly  ex- 
pected in  Germany  that  the  number  of  prisoners  taken 
by  German  forces  will  be  very  greatly  increased  during 
the  present  year,  and  Germany  is  preparing,  now,  for 
that  contingency. 

These  soldiers  of  the  Allies  held  in  Germany  are 
concentrated  in  prison  camps  scattered  all  over  the 
empire.  Let  us,  then,  go  through  two  of  these  camps, 
which  are  typical  of  all.  Yet  all  these  places  are  not 
alike;  for,  although  the  same  general  orders  govern 
all,  and  the  same  quantity  and  quality  of  food  are  sup- 
plied everywhere,  the  character,  ability  and  inclina- 
tion of  the  camp  commander  has  much  to  do  with  the 
camp  management. 

"We  have  no  complaint  to  make,  sir,  considering 
that  we  are  prisoners  of  war,"  was  the  answer  of  a 
French  common  soldier  when  questioned  about  his 
treatment ;  "and,"  added  he,  of  his  own  accord,  "they 
treat  us  like  white  men,  sir."  This  particular  prisoner 
spoke  English  perfectly,  having  worked  in  London 
for  three  or  four  years. 

Permitted  to  talk  freely  with  the  prisoners,  more 


French  (left)  and  Russian  (Right)  prisoners  in  a  German  prison 
camp.  There  are  surprisingly  good  relations  between  the  German 
officers  and  guards  and  the  French  and  Russian  prisoners;  but 
between  English  prisoners  and  the  Germans  there  is  antagonism. 


SOME   FRUITS   OF   WAR  111 

than  a  score  were  questioned  and  conversed  with — 
Russians  and  French  as  well  as  English.  This  was 
done  through  an  interpreter,  whom  I  have  known  per- 
sonally for  many  years,  brought  with  me  for  such 
work  from  my  own  home  town  in  America,  where  he 
was  born,  and  who  has  no  German  associations  or 
connections  whatever. 

No  German  interpreted  anything  here  reported ;  nor 
did  any  one  object  or  interfere  in  the  slightest  with  my 
conversing  with  the  prisoners. 

In  this  camp  are  more  than  twelve  thousand  men, 
the  great  majority  of  them  being  French,  the  next 
largest  number  being  Russians.  There  are  perhaps 
three  or  four  hundred  Sikhs,  Gourkas  and  Turcos,  and 
only  thirty  Englishmen. 

Very  lonely  these  latter  appear  among  so  many  thou- 
sands of  their  fellow  prisoners,  whose  language  they 
do  not  speak  or  understand,  and  with  whom,  it  would 
seem,  they  associate  but  little. 

Perhaps  this  was  the  reason  for  the  sour  frame  of 
mind  in  which  this  tiny  group  of  men  were  found, 
which  was  in  striking  contrast  with  the  comparative 
contentment  of  the  French,  Russians,  Sikhs  and 
Gourkas. 

"Do  you  get  enough  to  eat?" 

"Only  a  bare  existence,  sir." 

"But  can  you  not  buy  what  you  want  at  the  camp 
canteen?  Do  you  not  get  money  from  home?"  I 
asked. 

"No,  sir.  I  wrote  to  my  brother  in  the  States  for 
money  the  end  of  last  November,  and  I  have  had  no 
answer  yet."  It  was  then  the  nineteenth  of  January. 


112     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

Such  are  typical  samples  of  the  comments  of  several 
of  these  thirty  English  prisoners. 

On  the  contrary : 

"How  are  you  getting  along?"  was  asked  of  a  Rus- 
sian. 

"All  right,"  he  answered.  "We  have  nothing  to 
complain  of." 

"Do  you  get  enough  to  eat  ?" 

"Yes,  plenty,"  came  the  contented  reply. 

"I'll  wager,"  broke  in  the  German  camp  commander, 
"that  he  is  getting  more  to  eat  than  he  ever  had  before 
in  his  life!" 

This  exchange  of  question  and  answer  was  in  sub- 
stance the  same  as  that  which  occurred  with  all  Rus- 
sian prisoners  talked  to.  Without  exception  each  of 
the  latter  grinned  with  bovine  good  humor. 

"Considering  that  you  are  a  prisoner,  I  take  it  that 
you  are  satisfied,  from  what  you  have  said,"  was  the 
concluding  remark  to  a  hearty,  pleasant- faced  French- 
man, after  many  questions  and  answers  about  food, 
treatment  and  occupation. 

"Yes,  considering,  as  you  say,  that  we  are  pris- 
oners." 

"But,  of  course,  you  don't  like  prison  life,"  was  the 
visitor's  banal  and  silly  remark. 

"Of  course  not,"  he  smiled.  He  was  too  polite  to 
laugh  outright.  "But  we  get  along  very  well.  Con- 
sidering that  we  are  prisoners,  much  better  than  we 
had  expected." 

And  here  is  another  scrap  of  conversation  with  an- 
other French  prisoner  in  this  camp : 


SOME   FRUITS   OF   WAR  113 

"How  do  you  get  along  with  the  German  officers 
and  guards?" 

"Why,  very  well,"  he  replied. 

"Do  you  mean  that  the  relations  between  you 
Frenchmen  and  the  Germans  are  good?"  was  the 
surprised  query. 

"Why,  yes ;"  he  answered,  "that  is,  our  personal  re- 
lations. But,"  he  added  quickly,  "of  course  that  has 
nothing  to  do  with  our  patriotic  feeling.  That  is 
stronger  than  ever,  if  possible." 

Just  what  this  personal  good  feeling  meant  in  a 
concrete  way  was  seen  and  heard  in  a  dramatic  man- 
ner an  hour  later. 

Since  the  subject  of  food  was  mentioned  in  every 
conversation,  the  question  was  asked  of  the  German 
commander : 

"What  do  you  give  them  to  eat  ?" 

"In  the  morning,  bread  and  coffee ;  at  midday,  bread 
and  a  thick  soup  made  of  potatoes  with  some  other 
vegetable  in  which,  five  times  a  week,  meat  is  included ; 
at  evening,  bread  and  a  thinner  soup.  The  water,  of 
course,  is  filtered."  It  was  the  lack  of  meat  of  which 
the  English  chiefly  complained. 

The  prisoners'  barracks  are  large,  well-built,  wooden 
affairs,  much  better  than  those  occupied  by  the  in- 
terned Belgian  soldiers  in  Holland.  But  sometimes 
there  were  two  or  three  tiers  of  bunks,  one  above  the 
other,  supported  by  heavy  upright  timbers.  The  mat- 
tress was  made  of  a  rough  substance,  like  gunny  sack, 
filled  with  straw.  There  were  plenty  of  blankets. 
Several  stoves  were  observed.  It  was  a  cold,  snowy 


114     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

January  day,  but  the  interior  of  every  barrack  visited 
was  comfortably  warm. 

The  prisoners  appeared  to  be  well  nourished  and 
healthy.  In  two  camps  and  among  many  hundreds 
of  prisoners  personally  observed  only  one  was  found 
who  looked  in  poor  health  and  said  that  he  felt  badly — 
a  small-statured  Russian.  The  commanders  of  both 
camps  said  that  as  yet  little  or  no  sickness  had  de- 
veloped. 

In  one  camp  a  good  deal  of  landscape  gardening 
had  been  done  around  certain  barracks,  very  tasteful, 
even  artistic. 

"You  seem  to  be  beautifying  your  grounds,"  was 
the  casual  remark  to  the  German  commander. 

"Oh,  that  is  the  work  of  the  French.  They  have 
a  gift  for  it.  It  is  beautiful,  isn't  it?"  answered  the 
camp  commander,  who  seemed  to  be  prouder  of  this 
work  of  the  French  prisoners  than  of  anything  else, 
except  one;  although  plainly  he  was  proud  of  his 
whole  establishment. 

"The  French,"  he  remarked,  "are  very  industrious. 
They  are  easy  to  get  along  with,  tod.  There  are  some 
very  talented  men  among  the  French.  Look  in  here, 
for  example." 

In  a  long,  wooden  building  were  many  men  making 
various  things  from  wood,  with  all  manner  of  carpen- 
ters' tools — one  sawing,  another  planing,  and  so  on. 
All  this  product  is  sold,  the  purchase-money  going  to 
the  prisoner  who  made  the  article.  There  were  many 
buildings  of  this  kind,  where  all  sorts  of  handicraft 
are  practised,  tailoring,  shoemaking,  the  plaiting  of 
various  useful  things  from  straw. 


SOME   FRUITS   OF   WAR  115 

One  end  of  a  big  room  where  the  carpenters  and 
cabinet-makers  were  at  work  had  been  boarded  off  to 
itself,  making  a  small  separate  apartment.  This  was 
the  personal  workshop  of  a  young  French  sculptor, 
who  at  that  moment  was  busy  modeling  a  large 
and  rather  ambitious  piece.  His  prison  studio  was 
adorned  with  a  dozen  or  more  of  his  creations,  some 
of  them  very  good. 

This  young  man  talked  with  great  freedom  and  gave 
a  more  sensible  view  of  their  situation  than  did  his 
mates. 

"Most  of  the  German  officers  are  very  nice  and  con- 
siderate," said  he.  "Of  course,  there  are  some  who 
like  to  show  their  importance,  and  these  are  disagree- 
able." 

"How  is  your  food?" 

"Of  course,  it  isn't  famous,  but,  for  a  war  prisoner, 
it's  all  right.  One  must  not  expect  too  much  in  a 
prison  camp.  It  is  all  for  our  country — all  of  this 
as  well  as  the  fighting." 

"But  you  say  you  are  comfortable  here — do  you 
want  to  get  back  to  fight  ?" 

"Very  much !      Very  much  indeed !"  he  answered. 

In  the  barracks  occupied  by  the  prisoners  from  India 
there  was  an  unusual  feature;  every  Hindu  cooks, 
and  in  every  way  prepares  his  own  food,  for  he  will 
not  eat  anything  touched  by  Christian  hands.  Many 
of  them  were  seen  at  this  private  and  religious  culi- 
nary occupation.  The  Gourka  sergeant  in  charge  of 
this  barracks  spoke  English.  He  and  his  comrades 
were  treated  quite  well,  he  said — much  better  than 
they  had  looked  for. 


116     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

Would  he  like  to  get  back  to  India?  He  would — 
more  than  anything. 

Why  had  he  come  to  the  war? 

"Orders,  sir." 

He  good-naturedly  interpreted  for  a  group  of  tall 
grave-faced  Sikhs,  statues  of  dignity  and  gravity. 

Why  had  they  come  so  far  to  fight? 

"The  service,"  was  the  answer;  and  the  Gourka  ser- 
geant tried  to  make  their  meaning  clear  by  such  ex- 
pressions as  "their  duty,"  "their  profession,"  "their 
business." 

As  to  wanting  to  go  home,  one  gathered  that  these 
Sikhs  were  quite  indifferent;  that  it  was  all  the  same 
to  them;  and  that  they  took  things  as  they  happened. 
Kismet ! 

In  the  barracks  where  the  Turcos  lived  came  the  one 
disagreeable,  even  shocking,  surprise  of  the  day.  It 
is  impossible  to  imagine  more  villainous-looking  creat- 
ures than  these  particular  prisoners  appeared  to  be. 
Nearly  all  of  them  are  small  men,  and  most  of  them 
have  viciousness  stamped  on  every  feature.  Their 
evil  eyes  follow  you,  expressionless,  unblinking,  like 
those  of  a  serpent. 

Some  of  these  men  undoubtedly  are  criminals — the 
forehead,  jaw,  mouth,  back  head,  and  above  all,  the 
merciless,  soulless  eyes,  spell  depravity. 

The  Sikhs  and  Gourkas  from  India,  many  of  whom 
have  fine  and  even  noble  features,  are  infinitely  su- 
perior to  this  scum  of  northern  Africa;  for  such  at 
least  most  of  these  particular  Turcos  must  be.  There 
are  some  faces  among  these  African  Turcos  that  are 


SOME   FRUITS    OF   WAR  117 

not  bad;  but  most  of  them  justify  the  harshest  descrip- 
tion. It  is  not  thinkable  that  these  are  fair  samples  of 
the  native  inhabitants  of  the  French  African  posses- 
sions. 

They  are  clad  in  an  amazing  array  of  garments — 
here  an  Arab,  a  blue  mark  tattooed  on  his  forehead, 
and  wearing  the  burnoose  of  the  desert;  there  another 
of  a  different  ethnology,  clad  in  a  totally  unfamiliar 
uniform  of  dark  blue,  with  brass  buttons;  still  another 
with  the  braided  jacket  and  baggy  trousers  of  the 
zouave — and  so  on  throughout  as  outre  a  collection 
of  costumes  as  the  imagination  of  a  Lewis  Carroll 
could  picture. 

Stepping  out  and  coming  face  to  face  with  a  group 
of  pleasant- faced  Frenchmen,  their  features  glowing 
with  intelligence,  their  kindly  eyes  full  of  friendliness, 
one  seems  to  confront  the  best,  as  opposed  to  the  worst 
in  human  nature,  so  sudden  and  startling  is  the  con- 
trast. And  the  trim,  erect,  hearty  German  officers, 
with  their  bluff  open  countenances,  do  not  soften  the 
dissimilarity. 

From  some  distance  away  there  floats  the  music  of 
human  voices  in  song.  There  are  many  voices,  very 
many  voices.  They  are  singing  in  harmony.  You 
listen,  astounded.  Can  you  be  dreaming?  you  ask 
yourself — can  this  be  a  trick  of  the  brain? 

"Oh!"  exclaims  the  German  commander,  noting 
your  amazement.  "That  is  the  French  chorus.  It  is 
exceedingly  good,  too.  Come  along  and  hear  them !  I 
am  sure  they  would  be  glad  to  have  you." 

You  go  to  a  long  building,  much  like  the  barracks, 


118     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

but  bare  of  any  furniture  within.  The  gray  snowy 
day  has  begun  to  decline,  and  the  big  room  is  in  the 
gloaming. 

A  large  number  of  French  soldiers  are  arranged  in 
a  semicircle,  like  a  horseshoe  magnet.  At  one  point 
are  grouped  the  bassos;  at  another  the  tenors;  at  an- 
other the  baritones.  Each  man  holds  in  his  hand  a 
sheaf  of  paper  on  which  are  written  notes.  All  are 
singing. 

In  the  center  of  this  human  tuning-fork  stands  a 
tall,  slender  French  soldier,  cap  on  head,  his  long  blue 
military  overcoat  draping  his  figure  almost  to  the  floor. 
He  is  conducting  the  chorus,  his  baton  rising,  falling, 
curving,  his  figure  swaying  in  time  with  the  harmony. 

So  intent  is  this  prisoner  chorus  on  their  singing 
that  they  are  not  conscious  that  the  camp  commander 
and  several  officers  have  entered.  Their  soul  is  in 
their  voices — yes,  and  in  their  faces,  too,  which,  in 
the  dim  light,  seem  to  you,  in  your  now  uplifted  state, 
very  refined,  very  noble.  In  spirit  these  uniformed 
disarmed  warriors  are  not  at  this  moment  in  a  prison 
camp  at  all,  nor  even  in  Germany. 

In  spirit  they  are  back  in  France,  beloved  beautiful 
France.  It  is  of  their  country  they  are  singing  now, 
of  their  homes,  of  their  adored  ones.  It  is  a  song 
quarried  from  the  very  depths  of  their  beings.  They 
have  written  it  themselves,  there  in  the  prison  camp, 
in  the  heart  of  Germany.  They  have  composed  the 
music  for  it  themselves,  every  note  of  it.  Words  and 
music  are  alive,  throbbing,  passionate,  tender,  exalted. 

You  are  deeply  touched;  you  feel  as  if  in  an  holy 
presence. 


SOME   FRUITS    QF   WAR  119 

This  song  of  France  and  home  and  loved  ones  dies 
tremblingly  away.  For  a  moment  there  is  silence. 
Then  a  tenor  voice  begins  a  solo.  The  voice  is  rich, 
mellow,  cultivated,  highly  trained.  It  is  full  of  fire, 
pathos,  infinite  emotion.  And  the  accompaniment! 
The  first  impression  on  your  now  elevated  senses  is 
that  a  great  orchestra  is  hidden  near  at  hand. 

But  no ;  it  is  a  miracle  more  extraordinary  still.  The 
superb  tenor  is  accompanied  by  human  orchestration. 
Those  hundreds  of  French  soldiers  are  humming,  their 
mingled  tones  producing  the  effect  of  scores  of  pieces 
playing  in  harmony.  Never  before  have  you  heard  the 
like  of  this  vocal  marvel. 

It  ceases.  Silence  again.  Then :  "Best  congratu- 
lations!" It  is  the  German  commander  speaking. 
From  the  background  where  we  stood  listening  he  has 
walked  forward  and  is  warmly  shaking  the  soloist's 
hand,  as  he  praises  his  singing.  "Best  congratula- 
tions !"  he  exclaims  again  in  French  as  he  grasps  the 
hand  of  the  conductor.  And:  "Best  congratula- 
tions!" once  more  as  first  right,  then  left,  he  bows  to 
the  chorus.* 

"Merci,  monsieur!"  answers  the  pleased  tenor.  And 
"Merci,  monsieur!"  the  conductor;  and  "Merci!"  mur- 
mur the  men.  But  all  of  them  with  dignity!  The 
whole  scene  is  very,  very  fine.  No  patronage  on  the 
part  of  the  German  commander,  no  truckling  by  his 
French  charges;  but  mutual  respect  and  self-respect  on 
both  sides. 

Another  evidence,  this,  of  a  staggering  fact  which 


*The  chorus  conductor  and  the  tenor  were  professors  of  music 
in  Paris. 


120     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

has  no  intelligence  in  it:  The  two  peoples  who  are 
shedding  one  another's  blood  most  freely  in  this  war 
do  not  appear  to  dislike  one  another  personally.  On 
the  contrary,  they  seem  to  get  on  very  well  together. 
You  had  noted  this  in  the  comments  of  French  women 
in  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Germans,  back  of  their 
western  front.  You  had  observed  it  in  the  comradery 
between  German  soldiers  and  French  children  in  the 
invaded  territory. 

Another  prisoners'  camp  was  exactly  like  the  first 
you  had  seen  in  the  food  and  occupations  of  the  cap- 
tured. But  it  had  no  landscape  gardening,  no  sculptor, 
no  chorus;  perhaps  because  there  were  comparatively 
few  French  or  because  of  the  lack  of  initiative,  inveni 
tion  and  sympathy  of  the  German  camp  commander. 
Doubtless  it  was  both. 

In  this  camp  the  nationalities  of  the  prisoners  were 
almost  reversed;  a  large  number  of  English,  very 
many  Russians,  comparatively  few  French,  and  no 
Arabs,  Ethiopians  or  Moors.  Here  the  English  were 
more  cheerful  and  less  complaining  than  their  thirty 
desolate  brothers  in  the  first  camp  visited;  but  here, 
also,  the  hostility  between  English  and  German  was 
even  more  pronounced. 

"The  English  are  very  difficult,"  the  genial  com- 
mander of  the  first  camp  visited  had  remarked,  and : 

"We  can't  get  along  with  the  English.  They  won't 
work.  They  object  to  everything,"  was  the  comment 
of  the  somewhat  rheumatic  German  commander  of 
the  second  prison  camp  visited. 

On  their  part  the  dislike  of  the  English  prisoners 
for  the  Germans  was  still  more  pointed  and  acid. 


SOME    FRUITS    OF   WAR  121 

While  most  of  them  frankly  said  that  they  thought 
themselves  fairly  well  off  as  to  food  and  quarters,  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  they  were  prisoners  of  war,  still 
when  one  was  asked : 

"Would  you  rather  be  here  or  in  the  trenches?"  the 
answer  came  with  a  snap: 

"In  the  trenches,  sir.  I'd  like  to  get  a  crack  at  them, 
sir!" 

And  another,  this  time  a  sailor,  one  of  fewer  than 
a  dozen  Englishmen  actually  seen  at  voluntary  work, 
answering  the  same  question,  said,  sharply : 

"In  the  trenches  with  my  comrades,  sir.  Anything 
is  better  than  this." 

In  general,  the  hostility  of  the  English  prisoners  to 
their  German  captors  was  plainly  apparent  and,  in- 
deed, unconcealed.  One  could  not  help  admiring  the 
openness  and  boldness  of  it.  Conversely,  the  dislike 
of  the  German  officers  and  guards  for  their  stubborn 
wards  was  no  less  manifest.  You  could  not  but  like 
the  frankness  displayed  by  both.  The  only  difference 
in  their  mutual  dislike  seemed  to  be  that  the  Germans 
gave  reasons,  such  as:  "The  English  won't  work." 
Or:  "The  English  are  quarrelsome."  Or:  "The  Eng- 
lish fight  the  French  with  their  fists."  Or :  "The  Eng- 
lish are  always  complaining." 

On  the  other  hand,  with  the  English  antipathy  for 
the  Germans,  it  was  a  case  of — 

"I  do  not  like  you,  Doctor  Fell! 
The  reason  why  I  can  not  tell. 
But  this  one  thing  I  know  full  well: 
I  do  not  like  you,  Doctor  Fell!" 


122     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

Yet  it  seems  that  both  German  and  English  respect 
each  other  highly  as  first-class  fighting  men.  For 
example,  take  this  comment  of  a  German  officer  at 
Lille,  France,  noted  for  his  gallantry,  which  was 
agreed  to  by  his  fellow  officers : 

"The  English  whom  we  have  met  are  good  soldiers. 
The  officers  are  fine." 

Reciprocally:  "Oh,  yes,  the  Germans  fight  well 
enough;  like  devils,  sir,"  was  the  comment  of  an  Eng- 
lish prisoner,  who  had  just  expressed  his  animosity 
for  the  Germans,  and,  like  his  comrade  already  quoted, 
snapped  out  his  earnest  wish  to  "get  at  them"  again. 

"Do  you  get  enough  to  eat?"  you  ask  a  bearded 
English  sailor. 

"I  suppose  so,  seeing  that  we  are  prisoners  of  war; 
but  not  as  much  as  we  should  like,  sir."  He  said  he 
got  money  from  home  and  could  buy  what  he  liked  in 
the  canteen.  "But,"  said  he,  "we  can't  get  jam,  sir." 

"Jam!"  you  exclaim  in  surprise. 

"Yes,  sir.  Jam,  sir,  and  chocolate  and  such  other 
like  dainties,  sir." 

The  camp  post-office  is  the  liveliest  place  of  all.  Al- 
ways these  stations  of  intelligence  seem  to  be  crowded. 
Also,  they  are  disbursement  centers.  In  one  camp 
thirty-three  thousand  marks  had  been  paid  to  French 
prisoners  by  the  end  of  the  year  1914.  This  money 
was  sent  from  France  by  the  friends  or  relatives  of  the 
captured  prisoners.  It  is  not  given  out  in  bulk  or  cash 
by  the  German  officials.  Ten  marks  a  week  is  the 
maximum  allowed  to  a  private  soldier.  At  the  canteen 
are  sold  only  food  and  clothing.  The  sale  of  intoxi- 
cants of  any  kind  is  not  permitted. 


SOME   FRUITS   OF   WAR  123 

You  are  surprised  at  the  rosy  cheeks  and  well-nour- 
ished condition  of  most  of  the  prisoners.  The  open 
air  and  exercise  have  much  to  do  with  their  phys- 
ical fitness.  As  far  as  is  possible  those  who  will  not 
work  voluntarily,  making  articles  which  are  sold  and 
paid  for,  are  required  to  do  labor  of  some  kind. 

Hundreds  are  compelled  to  draw  and  push  wagons 
laden  with  camp  provisions.  Other  hundreds  keep 
clean  the  streets  of  German  cities  and  the  approaching 
roads.  Nurenburg  is  an  example  of  this.  But  with 
every  possible  employment  only  a  fraction  of  Ger- 
many's seven  hundred  thousand  prisoners  can  be  given 
useful  occupations  during  the  winter. 

When  spring  and  summer  come,  however,  there  will 
be  more  work  to  do.  It  is  planned,  at  least  in  parts 
of  Germany,  as  in  Bavaria,  for  example,  to  employ  the 
prisoners  in  tilling  the  soil,  sowing  the  seed  and  gath- 
ering the  harvest.  For  this  work  the  French  are  will- 
ing and  the  Russians  more  than  eager.  No  woman, 
child  or  old  man  need  work  in  the  fields  of  Germany 
during  the  present  year  unless  they  insist  upon  doing 
so;  for  there  are  enough  prisoners  anxious  to  perform 
that  labor  in  preference  to  the  confinement  of  the 
camps. 

The  Wounded 

But  what  of  the  wounded  and  disabled?  Of  these, 
by  semi-official  estimate  up  to  January  15,  1915,  there 
were  543,000,  of  whom  322,000  were  only  slightly 
wounded,  and  at  that  time  nearly  ready  to  go  to  the 
front  again;  and  221,000  more  seriously  wounded,  of 
which  thirty-five  per  cent,  would  soon  be  ready  for 


124     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

duty  once  more.  A  more  generous  computation  gave 
650,000  wounded,  of  which  sixty  per  cent.,  or  390,000 
men,  could  return  to  the  front  within  a  short  time. 

The  care  of  these  injured  ones  is  infinitesimal  in 
scientific  detail  and  very  tender  on  its  human  side. 
The  best  hospital  trains  are  marvels  of  comfort,  con- 
venience, efficiency.  In  each  regulation  hospital  train 
there  are  twenty  cars.  In  each  car  there  are  beds  for 
ten  patients.  Each  bed  is  suspended  on  powerful 
springs  fixed  at  the  ends  so  as  to  absorb  the  shock. 

Above  each  bed  are  two  looped  straps,  in  which  the 
wounded  one  may  rest  his  weary  arms  and  hands.  In 
a  case  at  the  side  are  glass,  water  and  tooth-brush ;  in 
short,  no  mechanical  convenience  has  been  neglected. 
Heartsome  pictures  are  fixed  over  the  mid-doorway, 
so  that  the  eyes  of  the  wounded  rest  upon  soothing 
objects.  An  abundance  of  pictorial  magazines  supply 
reading  matter. 

Then,  of  course,  there  are  operating  cars,  surgeons' 
cars,  with  enameled  operating  tables  dazzlingly  clean 
and  electric  lights  making  the  interior  brighter  than 
day.  Above  all,  on  these  hospital  trains  there  are 
women  nurses,  carefully  chosen  not  only  for  their 
knowledge,  nerve  and  skill,  but  also  for  their  gift  of 
human  sympathy. 

These  maimed  men  are  promptly  cared  for  before 
reaching  hospital  trains,  in  the  field  hospital,  very  near 
the  scene  of  the  casualty,  and  next  in  a  division  base 
hospital  within  sound  of  the  firing-line.  Go  into  one 
of  these  latter  establishments  of  succor.  Here  a  sol- 
dier is  recovering  and  is  very  happy,  almost  joyful. 
His  only  thought,  he  tells  you,  is  to  get  back  to  the 


SOME   FRUITS   OF   WAR  125 

fighting.  There  another  is  too  badly  hurt  to  talk  or 
even  think. 

Yonder  a  man  lies  dying,  and  he  expires  in  your 
presence;  but  it  does  not  astonish,  for  you  have  seen 
the  same  thing  in  the  Philippines,  down  to  the  smallest 
detail  of  sunken  cheek,  stertorious  breathing,  rattling 
throat  and  final  silence.  Also,  you  have  witnessed 
death  in  New  York  hospitals,  but  in  more  sordid  guise 
and  without  the  least  tinge  of  glory  or  romance. 

But  what  is  this?  The  general  commanding  that 
corps  comes  in.  He  does  not  stride.  He  walks  softly. 
He  goes  to  the  bedside  of  a  common  soldier,  sore 
wounded,  on  whose  breast  he  pins  the  iron  cross  with 
words  of  praise  for  gallantry.  Three  times  this  hap- 
pens. Once  the  prostrate  figure  answers  with  articu- 
late words  of  thanks.  The  other  two  are  too  sick  to 
speak,  but  appreciation  shines  from  their  eyes. 

Finally  comes  the  transfer  of  the  wounded  to  the 
great  permanent  hospitals  located  at  central  points  in 
every  large  German  city.  You  witness  the  unloading  of 
the  maimed  from  a  newly  arrived  hospital  train. 

It  is  early  morning.  A  chill  rain  is  falling.  Two 
or  three  score  men  with  Red  Cross  bands  on  their  coat 
sleeves  carry  the  disabled  soldiers  on  stretchers  to 
waiting  vehicles,  which  haul  them  to  hospital  build- 
ings. There  are  Red  Cross  ambulances,  luxurious  lim- 
ousines, great  furniture  vans,  with  reclining  places  for 
the  wounded,  much  like  the  beds  on  the  trains.  A 
few  women,  who  have  relatives  in  those  cars,  stand 
patiently  about. 

A  well-dressed  gray-haired  man  is  looking  for  his 
son,  whom  he  soon  finds,  desperately  hurt,  and  walks 


126     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

by  the  stretcher's  side  to  the  limousine.  There  are  no 
tears.  Each  person,  man  or  woman,  holds  back  all 
emotion  with  a  firm  hand.  Having  settled  down  to 
the  business  of  war,  they  are  doing  it  in  steady  fash- 
ion, facing  the  ugly  as  well  as  the  stirring  with  equal 
patience  and  fortitude. 

Of  dozens  of  convalescing  wounded  soldiers  talked 
to,  all  but  one  expressed  their  eagerness  to  get  back  to 
the  front.  There  was  no  false  enthusiasm  about 
them;  no  pretense.  You  could  not  doubt  their  ear- 
nestness and  sincerity.  The  expression  of  the  face, 
tone  of  voice,  above  all  the  look  from  the  eye,  left  no 
room  for  doubt.  One  soldier  who  had  been  shot  in 
the  leg  at  the  battle  of  Tannenberg,  said  he  was  quite 
comfortable  where  he  was — in  the  hospital.  He  would 
not  be  able  to  walk  very  well  anyhow,  he  thought,  and 
did  not  seem  to  regret  it.  He  was  the  one  exception. 

Of  the  total  number  of  wounded  in  every  way,  at 
least  sixty  per  cent,  go  to  the  front  again.  Cautious 
and  conservative  estimates  place  the  percentage  even 
higher — more  indeed  than  seventy  per  cent. 

The  anxiety  of  the  men  to  return  to  the  firing-line 
equals  their  desire  to  get  well.  Indeed,  this  state  of 
mind  has  something  to  do  with  the  quickness  of  their 
recovery.  Great  numbers  of  German  soldiers  have 
been  wounded,  treated  and  have  gone  back  to  service 
three  separate  times. 

Professor  Doctor  O.  Kiliani,  of  New  York,  one  of 
the  principal  surgeons  with  the  German  forces  operat- 
ing near  Lille,  France,  has  personally  observed  many 
cases  of  this  kind. 

The  'Uncomplaining  fortitude  of  the  wounded,  their 


SOME   FRUITS   OF   WAR  127 

astonishing  vitality  and  power  of  resistance,  their 
ardor  and  determination  to  get  into  the  fighting  again 
as  soon  as  possible,  Professor  Kiliani  thinks  the  most 
notable  physical  and  psychological  facts  coming  under 
the  observation  of  the  scientist. 

Doctor  Charles  Haddon  Sanders,  of  Washington, 
D.  C,  head  of  the  American  Red  Cross  hospital  at 
Gleiwitz,  Germany,  on  the  Russian  frontier,  testified 
to  the  same  thing. 

"Every  man  of  them,"  said  Doctor  Sanders,  "is 
anxious  to  get  back  to  the  front  and  the  fighting. 
Not  one  of  them  wants  to  go  home.  Their  spirit 
and  confidence  are  beyond  belief.  I  want  to  say 
this  for  these  wounded  German  soldiers  whom  we 
have  operated  upon  and  treated:  no  patients  could  be 
more  appreciative  of  what  is  done  for  them.  They 
are  respectful  and  good-mannered  to  the  highest  de- 
gree. I  have  been  impressed  by  their  cleanliness  of 
mind  and  manner.  Many  of  them  are  highly  cul- 
tured men.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  out  of  more 
than  seven  hundred  cases  only  one  venereal  case  de- 
veloped; and  this  case  was  contracted  in  Russian  Po- 
land. I  think  all  physicians  will  say  that  this  is  very 
remarkable  in  an  army  of  invasion." 

Troops  in  Training 

All  over  Germany  fresh  troops  are  in  training.  This 
has  been  going  on  for  many  months.  Every  possible 
detail  of  every  possible  experience  at  the  front  is  gone 
over  and  over  and  over,  time  and  time  and  time  again. 
You  may  see  every  phase  of  a  real  battle,  except  of 


128     WHAT   IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

course  the  actual  wounding  and  killing,  in  the  country 
adjoining  any  one  of  the  innumerable  training  camps 
scattered  throughout  the  empire;  artillery  action, 
trench  fighting,  advances  in  the  open,  cavalry  work, 
scouting,  management  of  supplies,  both  food  and  am- 
munition— in  short,  every  conceivable  thing  that  can 
occur  in  active  service. 

Excepting  only  casualties,  one  could  take  photo- 
graphs on  these  practice  fields  and  in  these  training 
camps,  or  one  could  write  descriptions,  and  both  photo- 
graph and  description  would  faithfully  portray  scenes 
at  and  near  the  battle  line,  so  exactly  are  conditions 
at  the  front  reproduced. 

The  thoroughness  of  this  training  of  the  common 
soldier  can  not  be  put  too  strongly  or  too  often.  When 
finally  the  recruit  is  allowed  to  go  to  the  scene  of 
action  he  already  is  a  seasoned  soldier,  except  for  the 
experience  of  hearing  and  feeling  hostile  lead  and 
steel. 

For  most  of  these  men  have  had  much  physical  and 
disciplinary  education.  Therefore,  in  these  camps 
at  present  the  theory  of  warfare  is  reduced  to  prac- 
tice, the  theory  itself  being  carefully  modified  by  ac- 
tual experience  in  the  present  war.  It  is  reasonably 
safe  to  say  that  the  German  soldier  of  1915  will  be  a 
more  efficient  man  than  was  his  comrade  who  rallied 
to  the  colors  last  August. 

As  to  military  training,  it  should  be  noted  that  schol- 
ars like  the  great  theologian,  Professor  von  Harnack, 
or  the  Socialist,  Doctor  Siidekum,  think  it  is  so  good 
a  thing  for  developing  health,  strength  and  efficiency 


SOME    FRUITS    OF   WAR  129 

that  the  German  people  are  more  than  repaid  for  this 
investment. 

"Aside  from  the  military  phase — if  no  army  were 
needed  and  no  war  possible — I  should  earnestly  favor 
our  system  of  military  training,  physically,  mentally 
and  morally,  as  a  vital  part  of  our  educational  sys- 
tem," said  Professor  von  Harnack. 

If  such  a  thing  were  possible,  the  instruction  and 
drill  of  those  preparing  to  be  officers  is  far  more  care- 
ful and  complete  than  the  exacting  and  exhaustive 
military  schooling  given  the  common  soldier.  These 
future  officers  are  spared  no  hardship.  They  are 
toughened  and  seasoned  quite  as  much  as  the  men 
whom  they  soon  are  to  command. 

You  study  with  keen  interest  company  after  com- 
pany of  these  young  men  who  are  striving  for  commis- 
sions. You  are  struck  by  the  high  intelligence  of  their 
faces;  character  and  education  are  written  on  every 
feature. 

Their  bearing  is  manful  and  soldierly.  Germany's 
worst  enemy  could  not  fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  these  men,  even  though  he  looked  at  them 
through  the  glasses  of  hatred. 

These  things  are  stated  only  because  they  are  facts, 
precisely  as  one  might  describe  any  fact,  such  as  a 
tree,  bridge,  railway  train,  house,  field,  hill. 

Of  the  hundreds  studied  in  one  immense  training 
camp  in  January  of  1915,  none  looked  younger  than 
twenty  or  older  than  thirty.  From  their  appearance 
and  conduct  they  seemed  to  be  fine  soldier  stock. 

No  one  but  the  military  authorities  knows  the  num- 


130     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

her  of  men  now  in  training.  Certainly  it  is  very  great. 
And  waiting  eagerly  for  their  turn  are  hundreds  upon 
hundreds  of  thousands.  To  the  casual  and  unskilled 
observer,  ignorant  of  military  things,  there  seems  to 
be  no  end  of  men  in  Germany. 

These  may  or  may  not  be  fit  war  material — you  do 
not  know  personally.  But  as  to  numbers,  they  at  least 
seem  to  be  myriads;  as  to  appearance,  they  are  be- 
yond unskilled  criticism. 

By  careful  questioning  in  every  available  quarter, 
and  in  different  parts  of  Germany,  during  several 
weeks,  and  piecing  together,  weighing  and  testing  in- 
formation thus  garnered,  the  conclusion  seems  justi- 
fied that  Germany  expects  to  keep  five  million  men  ac- 
tively in  the  field,  year  in  and  year  out,  no  matter  how 
long  the  war  lasts.  By  five  million  is  meant  soldiers 
and  officers  as  well  trained  as  those  called  to  the  colors 
last  August.  All  this,  too,  in  the  regular  ordinary 
course  of  events,  without  straining  her  human  re- 
sources. Another  chapter  deals  in  more  detail  with 
this  feature  of  the  war. 


VI 

A   PEOPLE  AT   WAR* 

ECE  the  other  chapters  of  this  book,  this  one  is 
a  record  of  facts  as  they  existed  at  the  time 
described,  without  any  expression  of  opinion  by  the 
writer. 

A  faithful  portrayal  of  actual  situations  can  be 
made  only  by  seeing  "with  the  eyes  of  a  child,"  as 
an  eminent  American  editor  expressed  it,  and  stating 
what  is  thus  seen  and  heard.  To  make  facts  fit  a  pre- 
conceived and  cherished  theory  or  prejudice  is  to  dis- 
tort and  misrepresent  them.  What,  then,  is  the 
German  situation  at  the  date  of  this  narrative? 

On  entering  Germany  the  last  week  of  the  fifth 
month  of  the  war,  what  apparently  were  three  great 
facts  rose  like  mountain  peaks  from  a  level  plain.  So 
impossible  did  these  seem,  to  one  stepping  directly 
from  American  soil  on  to  German  soil,  that  many 
weeks  were  spent  in  painstaking  effort  to  find  whether 
they  were  realities  or  only  illusions  created  by  the 
abnormal  atmosphere  of  war. 

In  the  search  for  truth  in  the  wilderness  of  rumor, 
misstatement  and  speculation,  which  armed  conflict 


*  Written  at  Berne,  Switzerland,  February  12,  1915. 

131 


132     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

always  creates,  the  value  of  testing  is  as  great  as  that 
of  observing,  and  conservative  estimate  and  under- 
statement become  not  only  a  virtue,  but  a  necessity. 

In  this  spirit,  then,  and  with  this  method,  investiga- 
tion was  made  throughout,  day  in  and  day  out,  night  in 
and  night  out,  for  many  weeks.  No  available  source  of 
first-hand  information  was  overlooked.  The  people 
themselves  were  studied  personally  and  directly;  So- 
cialist as  well  as  capitalist,  artisan  and  manufacturer, 
banker  and  common  laborer,  business  man  and  scholar, 
obscure  servant  and  celebrated  author,  wives  and 
daughters  of  working  men,  and  women  of  title  and 
position — the  opinion  of  all  these  was  secured. 

This  opinion  was  everywhere  the  same.  Not  one 
break  was  found  in  the  solidarity  of  sentiment.  And 
this  conviction  (for  it  amounted  to  conviction) 
formed  the  three  facts,  meaningful,  surprising,  even 
startling,  which  confronted  the  newly  arrived  from 
America  during  the  first  five  weeks  of  the  year  1915. 

Neither  retrospection  nor  prophecy  is  here  ventured. 
What  is  to  be,  Clotho  is  spinning.  What  has  been, 
Atropos  has  severed.  But  what  one  knows,  as  a 
present  and  existing  truth  (February,  1915),  may  be 
stated  as  such.  So: 

First.  The  German  people  are  an  unit  in  support  of 
this  war.  In  this  matter  nearly  seventy  million  men, 
women  and  children  think,  feel  and  act  as  a  single 
being.  With  the  Germans  this  is  a  people's  war. 
"With  us  it  is  the  German  working  men's  war,"  said 
Doctor  Albert  Siidekum,  leader  of  the  German  Social 
Democratic  party.  Professor  von  Harnack,  the  great 


A    PEOPLE   AT    WAR  133 

German  theologian,  was  right  when  he  said  that  the 
world  has  seldom  seen  anything  like  it.* 

With  respect  to  the  war,  the  government  and  all  the 
people  are  in  harmony,  absolute  and  unbroken.  And 
this  oneness  of  thought  and  feeling  goes  to  the  ulti- 
mate and  the  final,  to  the  carrying  on  of  the  war  no 
matter  for  how  long,  nor  at  what  cost,  until  Germany 
wins. 

Second.  The  German  people  believe  that  they  will 
triumph.  They  are  as  sure  of  victory  as  they  are  of 
the  process  of  the  seasons.  This  appeared  to  be  in- 
credible to  an  American  arriving  in  Germany  with 
the  American  view  of  the  situation.  But,  search  long 
and  carefully  as  one  might  with  the  microscope  of  in- 
credulity, not  one  flake  of  doubt  was  found  on  the 
bright  armor  of  the  German  people's  faith.  It  will 
be  hard,  very  hard,  for  Americans  to  believe  this ;  but 
it  is  so.  And  with  this  sureness  of  the  outcome, 
indeed  as  a  part  of  their  certainty,  goes  a  determina- 
tion to  win.  It  can  be  felt.  It  is  the  psychological 
and  spiritual  atmosphere  of  .Germany. 

Yet  there  is  no  excitement  among  the  people.  The 
war  is  not  on  their  nerves.  On  the  contrary,  there 
is  a  vast  composure.  They  have  settled  down  to  the 
finishing  of  this  war  as  though  it  were  their  one  great 
business — which  indeed  it  is,  exactly  as  it  were  a  mat- 
ter of  industry,  commerce,  science,  in  which  they  have 
succeeded  so  wonderfully.  No  effort  is  spared,  but 
also  no  effort  is  wasted. 


*  See  Chapters  VII  and  VIII  on  "German  Thought  Back  of 
the  War." 


134     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

At  the  heart  of  this  amazing  phenomenon,  so  quiet 
and  purposeful,  is  a  passion  that  is  all  but  religious. 
It  is  a  strange  mingling  of  the  practical  and  poetic,  a 
composite  of  the  thoughtful  and  the  mystical,  the  sim- 
ple and  the  sublime.  In  short,  it  is  the  German 
character  of  tradition,  moved  from  its  profoundest 
depths  to  its  highest  manifestation. 

Third.  The  German  people  feel  and  believe  that 
they  have  been  wronged.  The  German  people  say 
that  they  did  not  want  this  war,  nor  any  war.*  They 
are  convinced  that  they  are  the  victims  of  a  monstrous 
plot,  hatched  in  a  foreign  country,  to  destroy  modern 
Germany. 

To  every  German  this  means  the  ruin  of  himself 
and  his  family.  He  feels  that  he  is  fighting  not  only 
for  his  country,  his  ideals,  his  civilization,  but  also  for 
his  sheer  physical  existence,  and  that  of  his  loved  ones. 

The  German  people  believe  that  England  is  the 
arch-enemy  who,  in  the  final  analysis,  brought  this 
catastrophe  upon  them.  Man,  woman  and  child  lay 
their  misfortunes  at  England's  door.  In  their  Ger- 
man way  they  have  brooded  over  the  wrong  which 
they  regard  England  as  responsible  for,  until  their 
feeling  has  become  that  of  hatred.  This  feeling  is 
growing  stronger  and  deeper  all  the  time.  If  it 
should  continue  to  increase  for  any  considerable 
period  it  is  possible  that  it  may  become  a  settled  ani- 
mosity lasting  for  generations. 

About  these  three  central  facts  are  lesser,  but  still 
important,  facts. 


*  See  Chapters  VII  and  VIII  on  "German  Thought  Back  of 
the  War." 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  135 

For  example,  although  France  has  caused  Germany 
her  heaviest  losses,  and  although  Germany  has  dealt 
France  her  heaviest  blows,  yet  from  the  western  to 
the  eastern  battle  fronts,  from  Hamburg  to  Munich, 
not  one  unkind  word  was  heard  of  the  French.  The 
expressions  were  almost  friendly — certainly  sympa- 
thetic and  without  patronage. 

The  feeling  of  the  German  people  is  that  the  French 
ought  not  to  be  in  the  war,  and  would  not  be,  except 
for  the  Russian  alliance  and  their  enormous  invest- 
ments in  Russia ;  and  even  more,  except  for  the  machi- 
nations of  England. 

The  consensus  of  German  opinion  is  that  the  French 
have  no  logical  place  in  the  conflict.  The  Germans 
declare  that  France  would  not  have  been  attacked  ex- 
cept for  the  certainty  that  France  would  have  attacked 
Germany  to  help  France's  ally,  Russia,  as  France's 
alliance  with  Russia  bound  France  to  do.  But,  funda-- 
mentally,  the  Germans  think  no  real  ground  of  con- 
flict exists  between  Germany  and  France.  Except 
for  diplomatic  alliances  and  intrigues,  the  Germans 
are  sure  France  would  not  be  in  this  war. 

Strangely  enough,  there  is  no  great  animosity 
against  the  Russians.  Most  of  this  has  been  over- 
come by  the  German  people's  resentment  toward  Eng- 
land. The  Germans  say  that  the  millions  of  Russian 
soldiers  do  not  know  what  they  are  fighting  for,  but 
only  do  what  they  are  told  to  do;  and  that  in  this 
instance  it  is  Russia's  grand  dukes  who  have  done  the 
telling.  Here,  again,  to  the  German  mind,  England 
once  more  appears  as  the  master  manipulator.  Rus- 
sia, they  say,  would  not  have  acted  if  she  had  not  been 


136     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

sure  of  England's  support.  As  to  the  Russian  mu- 
zhik, who  is  the  Russian  common  soldier,  the  Germans 
have  a  pity  for  and  sympathy  with  him.  "Poor 
devil!"  they  say,  "he  has  no  chance  and  never  did 
have  any  chance;  can  not  read  or  write,  and  is  not 
allowed  to  learn,"  and  so  forth  and  so  on. 

Another  example  of  these  smaller  but  important 
facts  is  the  state,  or  rather  the  progress  toward  a 
state,  of  the  German  mind  toward  America.  The 
Germans  considered  us  friends.  On  this  point  Ger- 
man thought  runs  about  as  follows : 

There  are  so  many  million  Germans  who  are  Amer- 
ican citizens ;  there  never  had  been  any  conflict  between 
America  and  Germany,  whereas  there  have  been  wars 
or  estrangements  between  America  and  each  of  the  na- 
tions allied  against  Germany ;  Frederick  the  Great  was 
the  first  to  recognize  American  independence ;  the  eco- 
nomic and  humanitarian  reforms  wThich  were  the 
objectives  of  the  popular  movement  in  America  during 
the  last  decade  were  German  in  their  origin  and  ex- 
ample; Germany  was  a  heavy  customer  of  the  United 
States,  etc. — such  is  the  outline  of  the  reasons  for  the 
German  people's  opinion  that  the  American  people 
were  their  friends. 

So  when  American  public  sentiment  showed  itself 
unfriendly  to  them  the  Germans  were  surprised  and 
hurt.  For  a  long  time  they  could  not  believe  it.  They 
were  almost  childlike  in  their  incredulity  of  American 
hostility.  They  make  all  sorts  of  excuses  for  it — as 
that  our  language  is  English;  or  that  the  German 
cable  was  cut  and  we  were  not  able  to  get  the  truth; 
or  that  our  press  received  its  news  from  English 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  137 

sources,  and  is,  therefore,  pro-English;  or  that  our 
wealthy  social  class  go  always  to  London  or  Paris,  and 
that  our  general  public  unconsciously  gets  its  impres- 
sions of  other  countries  from  these  moneyed  and  so- 
cially ambitious  by-products  of  our  democracy. 

"Oh,  of  course,  you  don't  know  us — you  never  come 
to  see  us  and  stay  long  enough  to  get  acquainted ;  you 
like  London  and  Paris  better  and  they  are  nearer  and 
easier  to  reach."  One  heard  such  explanatory  com- 
ments all  the  time.  And : 

"The  English  give  you  your  news — false  news. 
What  chance  has  the  truth  to  reach  you  ?"  was  another 
frequent  remark. 

"It  is  tragic,"  said  a  German  scholar,  "how  the 
English  control  your  opinion  through  your  press. 
During  the  Russo-Japanese  War  England  told  you  to 
hate  Russia,  and  you  hated  Russia.  Now  she  tells 
you  to  love  Russia,  and  you  love  Russia.  When  will 
America  awake  from  being  the  international  Trilby 
under  the  influence  of  the  international  Svengali?" 

As  to  the  stories  of  German  "atrocities" — the  Ger- 
mans at  first  simply  did  not  think  that  we  could  be- 
lieve them ;  they  at  first  did  not  conceive  it  to  be  possi- 
ble that  we  could  credit  the  tales  about  German  "bar- 
barism." Still,  there  was  no  animosity. 

This  latter  feeling  has  begun  to  show  itself  only  in 
the  last  month  or  two  (February,  1915).  This  is 
chiefly  due  to  our  sale  of  food  and  munitions  of  war 
to  Germany's  enemies,  especially  powder  and  guns. 
It  is  the  firm  belief  of  the  German  people  that  the  war 
would  now  be  over  if  we  had  not  done  this.  They 
are  sure  that  it  would  be  over  in  a  very  short  time  if 


138     WHAT   IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

we  would  stop  doing  it.  And  they  can  not  see  why 
we  should  do  it — it  benefits  no  American,  say  the  Ger- 
mans, except  the  American  producer  of  war  material. 

"American  shells  are  killing  our  sons,"  say  German 
parents;  "American  ammunition  is  desolating  German 
homes ;  Germany's  enemies  are  fighting  with  American 
weapons."  Such  is  the  comment  and  such  the  feeling 
among  the  German  people. 

For  many  weeks  it  has  been  common  talk  among 
private  soldiers  as  well  as  officers,  on  both  the  western 
and  eastern  battle  lines,  that  it  is  American  powder 
hurling  the  enemy's  bullets. 

This  has  spread  throughout  Germany  until  now 
(February,  1915),  there  is  a  genuine  feeling  of  re- 
sentment. The  sentiment  is  growing  that  we  are,  for 
practical  purposes,  the  ally  of  England,  or  rather,  the 
tool  of  England.  How  deeply  rooted  this  will  become 
it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say. 

But  it  always  should  be  taken  into  account  when 
trying  to  gauge  German  feeling  that  the  Germans 
firmly  believe  that  they  are  fighting  for  their  very 
lives.  Whether  one  agrees  with  them  or  not  is  of 
no  consequence  whatever  in  sounding  the  heart  of  the 
German  people ;  but  to  understand  them  it  is  necessary 
always  to  remember  that,  to  them,  this  war  is  a  ques- 
tion of  life  or  death. 

What  are  the  foundations  of  the  basic  facts — the 
German  people's  solid  support  of  the  war,  their  faith 
in  victory,  their  blame  of  England?  To  avoid  polem- 
ics, let  us  consider  only  the  first  two. 

The  solidarity  of  German  opinion  and  resolve  in 


A    PEOPLE   AT   WAR  139 

support  of  the  war  will  appear  to  Americans  in  its 
real  importance  and  proportion  when  we  recall  that 
in  our  own  wars  there  has  always  been  outspoken, 
organized  and  sometimes  violent  opposition:  witness 
our  revolutionary  war;  our  conflict  with  France;  our 
second  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  our  wars  with 
Mexico  and  Spain.  But  there  is  no  such  division  as 
that  in  Germany,  nor  any  trace  of  it. 

Yet  the  German  thinks  for  himself  and  speaks  his 
mind,  and  follows  speech  with  act ;  witness  the  growth 
of  the  Social  Democratic  party — its  frequent  opposi- 
tion, in  the  past,  to  measures  and  policies  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Witness,  too,  the  stubborn  opposition  of 
the  agrarian  group  to  the  tariff  policy  of  Caprivi.  And 
these  are  only  moderate  examples.  The  expression 
of  German  feeling  in  domestic  affairs  always  has  been 
stubborn  and  fierce;  recall  Bebel's  dramatic  denuncia- 
tion of  an  Imperial  Chancellor  on  the  floor  of  the 
Reichstag  a  few  years  ago — and  even  more  stirring 
incidents  since  that  time. 

The  notion  that  the  German  is  a  submissive  creature, 
with  no  opinions  except  those  handed  him  from  above 
and  with  no  courage  to  express  an  independent  idea, 
even  if  he  had  one,  is  absurdly  inaccurate.  We  Amer- 
icans might  realize  this  if  we  were  to  reflect  that  our 
neighbors  of  German  birth  or  blood  are  exactly  like 
their  kinfolk  in  Germany.  Also  suppose  we  consult 
history. 

To-day  there  are  no  political  parties  in  Germany, 
and  will  not  be  until  after  the  war  is  ended;  see  the 
statements  of  Socialists  in  Chapter  VIII.  It  may  al- 


140     WHAt   IS   BACK   OF!   THE   WAR 

most  be  said  that  creeds  have  ceased  to  exist,  as  far 
as  religious  antagonism  is  concerned,  during  this  flam- 
ing and  thundering  period. 

Political  hostilities  and  religious  differences  will 
again  raise  their  heads  after  peace  is  restored.  But  at 
present,  Socialist  and  Conservative,  Protestant  and 
Catholic,  Jew  and  gentile,  are  righting  literally  side  by 
side,  falling  side  by  side,  and  are  laid  to  rest  side  by 
side  in  a  common  grave. 

"Not  only  are  Protestant  ministers  and  Catholic 
priests  at  the  front,  but  Jewish  rabbis  as  well,"  said 
(Catholic)  Father  Pfaffenbuchler,  of  Munich,  who 
was  about  to  return  to  the  battle  front,  where  he  him- 
self had  been  officiating. 

The  Protestant  church  services,  crowded  to  over- 
flowing, are  equaled  by  the  Catholic  masses.  Catholic 
Bavaria  is  as  determined  as  Protestant  Prussia.  In- 
deed, the  fusing  of  creeds  in  Germany  by  the  fires  of 
war  is  perhaps  the  most  notable  feature  of  the  conflict. 
The  surface  is  barely  touched  if  the  religious  element 
is  not  considered  in  the  German  situation. 

What,  then,  has  forged  these  scores  of  millions  of 
thoughtful,  studious,  conservative  people  into  this  rod 
of  iron?  The  historian  will  write  a  brilliant  chapter 
in  answering  this  question. 

The  German  vision  of  the  Cossack  menace;  the  crim- 
son history  of  the  German  people,  woven  through 
with  the  black  of  foreign  oppression,  all  of  which  is 
a  living  tradition  in  every  German  home;  the  circle 
of  enemies  that  surrounds  her  and  always  has;  her 
united  independence,  economically  and  politically  en- 
joyed for  the  first  time,  thanks,  as  the  Germans  think, 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  141 

to  her  military  preparedness  and  unity  during  the  last 
half  century;  the  German  fear  of  the  impending  de- 
struction of  this  by  a  new  combination  of  historic  foes 
— the  future  annalist  will  weave  all  this  material  and 
much  more  into  thrilling  narrative. 

But  the  one  present,  immediate  and  overmastering 
reason  is  the  latter — the  German  people's  deep  and 
undoubting  conviction  that  they  have  been  wronged; 
the  universal  and  unwavering  feeling  that  their  enemies 
mean  to  crush  them  and  destroy  Germany. 

The  Germans  feel  that  they  are  fighting  for  their 
lives — literally  that.  It  is  necessary  to  repeat  this  fre- 
quently in  order  that  the  American  reader  may  cor- 
rectly gauge  German  solidarity  and  determination.  As 
to  their  having  planned  conquest  themselves,  you  all 
but  insult  the  German  people  by  mentioning  the 
thought,  so  libelous  does  it  seem  to  them. 

Here  is  the  German  people's  profound  conviction 
at  the  present  moment  (February  12,  1915),  aside 
from  the  other  elemental  and  historic  sources  of  Ger- 
man feeling:  They  had  made  themselves  prosperous 
and  powerful  by  hard  work,  method  and  economy; 
their  master  enemy,  England,  could  not  meet  them  in 
fair  competition;  so  England  arranged  the  alliance 
which  is  now  trying  to  annihilate  them.  The  character 
of  this  combination  has  given  a  hardness  and  an  edge 
to  German  resentment. 

"Here  we  are,"  they  say,  "we  Germans,  assailed  by 
Russian  and  French,  English  and  Japanese,  the  Af- 
rican and  the  Indian,  their  customs,  ideals  and  re- 
ligions different  and  hostile  to  one  another;  yet  this 
unholy  alliance  is  directed  against  us!" 


142     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

The  German  thinks  this  unnatural  and  diabolical. 
To  be  compelled  to  fight  Slav,  Latin  and  English  is  to 
the  German  mind  bad  enough :  to  add  the  Japanese  is 
intolerable;  but  to  bring  also  against  him  African 
Arabs,  Ethiopians  and  Moors,  and  Indian  Sikhs  and 
Gourkas  is,  in  the  German's  eye,  nothing  short  of  in- 
famous. 

And  all  this  against  the  Germanic  blood,  ideals,  civ- 
ilization— "The  ends  of  earth  are  harnessed  against 
us,"  say  the  Germans.  "The  riff-raff  of  Asia  and 
Africa  are  marshalled  by  English,  Latin  and  Slav  to 
stamp  out  the  Germanic  people.  And  we  are  forced  to 
meet  with  arms  this  array  of  racial  hatred  and  com- 
mercial envy." 

Yet,  strange  circumstance,  the  German  does  not  rave 
or  rage  about  it.  There  is  a  moderation  which  aston- 
ishes. For  example:  no  vile  cartoons  or  indecent 
prints  are  to  be  seen.  It  is  said  that  a  few  did  appear 
soon  after  the  outbreak  of  hostilities;  but  these 
promptly  and  sternly  were  suppressed.  Attendance 
upon  eleven  moving-picture  shows  during  January, 
1915,  revealed  nothing  coarse  or  even  unseemly. 

More  surprising  still  to  the  American  sojourning  in 
what  he  thought  an  autocratic  country  in  war  time, 
were  the  books  displayed  for  sale  in  the  largest  book- 
shop of  Berlin.  Not  only  were  many  such  serious  anti- 
German  books  to  be  purchased  as  Why  We  Are  At 
War:  Great  Britain's  Case,  by  members  of  the  Ox- 
ford Faculty  of  Modern  History,  and  Arnold  Ben- 
nett's Liberty:  A  Statement  of  the  British  Case,  but 
a  number  of  such  vivid  anti-German  novels  as  The 
Kaiser's  Spy,  by  William  LeQueux,  and  such  essen- 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  143 

tially  patriotic  English  works  as  the  late  William  Er- 
nest Henley's  For  England's  Sake.  Also,  the  leading 
English  and  French  papers  were  for  sale. 

But  the  faith  of  the  German  people  in  their  success 
in  this  war  is  more  surprising  than  any  other  fact  of 
any  kind  to  be  found  in  all  Germany.  The  Germans 
are  absolutely  certain  of  victory.  This  can  not  be  said 
too  often,  if  a  true  account  be  given  to  Americans  of 
the  German  state  of  mind.  The  Germans  have  no 
doubt  at  all  about  it.  For  a  long  time,  the  American 
on  the  ground  simply  can  not  grasp  this  spiritual  fact ; 
for  although  carefully  reasoned  out,  this  certainty  that 
they  will  prevail  is  more  spiritual  than  intellectual. 

The  investigator  who  leaves  out  of  his  research  the 
moral  forces  moving  the  German  people  has  omitted 
the  largest  element  of  their  strength.  The  spiritual 
and  moral  is  a  vital  part  of  the  German  people's  con- 
viction that  they  will  win.  For  it  is  a  conviction. 

It  staggers  and  confounds  the  American  student  of 
this  tremendous  phenomenon.  It  does  not  seem  pos- 
sible that  the  German  people  can  hope  to  withstand, 
much  less  to  overcome  the  mighty  combination  that 
opposes  them — to  the  American  it  is  not  thinkable.  But 
the  German  firmly  believes  that  Germany  will  be  tri- 
umphant. 

If  this  belief  were  voiced  only  by  officials,  one 
might  think  it  a  mere  exaggeration,  born  of  zeal  and 
the  heat  of  action.  But  when  the  financier  outdoes 
even  the  cabinet  minister  or  commanding  general,  and 
the  working  man  outdoes  both;  when  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  Social  Democrat  and  conservative  cap- 
italist, leaders  of  scholarship  and  the  most  poorly  in- 


formed  peasant,  all  hold  this  common  opinion — that 
Germany  will  win;  when  above  all  the  faith  of  the 
women  is  found  to  be  so  simple  and  unquestioning  that 
it  resembles  an  instinct,  one  confronts  a  mass  of  senti- 
ment so  mighty  and  so  solid  that  one  must  admit  its 
existence,  no  matter  how  impossible  it  seems  nor  how 
unreal  it  at  first  appears.  Also,  one  must  respect  it, 
whether  one  agrees  with  it  or  not. 

Upon  what,  then,  does  this  faith  of  the  German  peo- 
ple in  German  victory  rest?  Of  what  is  it  composed? 
Let  us  consider,  first,  the  more  tangible  elements  of 
this  amazing  state  of  mind  of  a  whole  people.  For 
this  belief  of  the  German  people  that  Germany  will 
triumph  is  not  a  thoughtless  impulse.  It  is  not  the 
product  of  a  scatter-brained  enthusiasm.  It  could  not 
be  that,  considering  the  nature  of  the  German  intellect 
and  character.  Let  no  one  imagine  that  the  moral  and 
spiritual  dynamics  now  displaying  their  power  among 
seventy  million  conservative  men  and  women  is  a 
mere  obsession  or  an  emotional  intoxication.  Far 
from  it.  The  German  has  also  counted  the  material 
cost,  and  calculated  carefully  his  resources. 

First  of  all,  of  course,  is  the  incalculable  advantage 
to  Germany  that  the  war  is  being  fought  on  the  soil 
of  the  hostile  countries.  To  the  unskilled  observer 
studying  parts  of  the  battle  line  on  both  fronts,  it 
seems  very  difficult  for  the  Allies  to  drive  the  Germans 
from  their  positions.  The  conclusion  appears  reason- 
able that  the  attempt  to  do  so  will  cost  the  Allies  heavy 
loss. 

Also,  the  country  occupied  furnishes  much  of  the 
provisions  consumed  by  the  German  army;  and,  when 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  145 

spring,  summer  and  fall  arrive,  will  supply  consider- 
ably more. 

When  one  considers  that  the  richest  departments  of 
France  are  occupied  by  the  Germans,  one  may  under- 
stand the  economic  as  well  as  military  strength  this 
fact  gives  the  invaders.  The  best  coal  fields  and  other 
mineral  deposits,  the  most  fertile  agricultural  region, 
the  most  extensive  manufacturing  plants,  the  largest 
steel  and  metal  concerns  of  France  are  in  German 
hands.  Much  of  the  food  producing  part  of  Russian 
Poland  is  also  in  the  possession  of  the  Germans. 

Assume  that  the  French,  Russians  and  English  drive 
the  Germans  back  over  scores  of  murderous  miles,  to 
the  first  German  line  of  defense  on  German  soil,  with 
the  frightful  carnage  such  a  feat  of  arms  probably 
would  cost  the  Allies;  still,  for  the  Germans,  the  war 
•would  then  only  BEGIN  from  the  military  defensive 
view. 

Thus  one  may  comprehend  this  element  of  German 
confidence — that  thus  far  the  war  has  been  and  is  be- 
ing waged  in  Russia  and  France  and  that  German  soil 
is,  as  yet,  practically  untouched. 

As  another  example,  take  the  money  question.  The 
German  people  are  infinitely  proud  of  the  fact  that 
their  financial  condition  was  such  that  it  was  not  nec- 
essary for  Germany  to  declare  a  moratorium;  while 
practically  every  other  country  in  Europe,  neutral  as 
well  as  belligerent,  and  even  some  South  American 
countries,  found  it  necessary  to  proclaim  this  drastic 
suspension  of  the  payment  of  debt. 

Also,  when  war  came  an  astonishing  amount  of  gold 
was  brought  out  by  the  people  themselves.  The  bank- 


146     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

ers,  even  the  government,  were  surprised.  Nobody 
thought  there  was  such  a  store  of  gold  in  Germany. 
The  people,  it  appeared,  had  taken  a  lesson  from  the 
French,  whose  ability  to  pay  promptly  the  crushing 
war  indemnity  of  1871,  astonished  the  world.  So,  in 
the  present  crisis,  out  from  almost  every  German  home 
came  little  sums  of  gold,  until  the  total  swelled  into 
an  huge  current  by  the  time  it  reached  the  Reichsbank. 

Thus,  on  July  31,  1914,  the  gold  stock  of  this  Im- 
perial Bank  amounted  to  1,250,000,000  marks;  while 
on  January  15,  1915,  its  stock  of  gold  amounted  to 
2,130,000,000  marks;  and  at  this  writing  (February 
12,  1915),  it  is  going  higher  all  the  time. 

Of  this  increase  only  205,000,000  marks  came  from 
the  war  treasure  at  Spandau.  The  gold  cover  of  the 
Reichsbank's  notes  increased  during  the  first  five  and 
one-half  months  of  the  war  from  forty- three  per  cent, 
to  forty-six  and  four-tenths  per  cent. 

Since  1907,  her  financiers  have  been  strengthening 
Germany's  financial  condition,  increasing  Germany's 
stock  of  gold  in  the  banks  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The 
reason  for  this  action  had  nothing  to  do  with  war  un- 
til 1911 ;  but  was  caused  by  American  financial  condi- 
tions, revealed  by  our  panic  of  1907. 

"That  taught  us  a  lesson,"  said  President  Haven- 
stein,  of  the  Reichsbank.  But  after  the  summer  of 
1911,  when  war  was  averted  so  narrowly,  the  contin- 
uing strengthening  of  Germany's  finances  took  into 
consideration  also  this  possibility.  Thus,  owing  to  the 
foresight  of  Germany's  financiers,  the  Reichsbank's 
gold  reserve  at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  was  very 
large.  But  the  extraordinary  increase  of  gold  reserve 


A   PEOPLE   AT.  WAR  147 

since  the  war  began  has  come,  mostly,  from  the  peo- 
ple. 

The  war  loan  brought  in  almost  double  the  amount 
expected  and  still  the  store  of  gold  in  the  hands  of  the 
people  has  not  been  exhausted.  In  January,  1915,  it 
was  estimated  that  the  people  still  had  in  reserve  more 
than  they  already  had  voluntarily  produced.  Business 
men  asserted  that  every  mark  of  the  people's  yellow 
hoardings  would  be  forthcoming  when  need  of  it  ap- 
peared and  the  request  was  made. 

Also,  a  system  of  loan  and  mortgage  banks  has  been 
established  upon  whose  certificates,  when  in  the  course 
of  circulation  they  reach  the  Reichsbank,  a  fixed 
amount  of  notes  may  be  issued.  The  securities  back 
of  these  certificates  are  so  carefully  safeguarded  that 
cautious  and  conservative,  even  timid,  bankers  con- 
sider this  money  sound. 

Then,  too,  it  should  be  noted  that  virtually  all  this 
gold,  silver  and  notes,  is  kept  in  Germany. 

"Our  investments  abroad,"  said  Doctor  Karl  Helffe- 
rich,  of  the  Deutsche  Bank,  the  brilliant  young 
financier  who,  recently,  has  'been  appointed  Minister 
of  Finance,  "are  more  than  enough  to  pay  our  foreign 
purchases  or  debts." 

The  money  received  by  the  government  on  its  war 
loan  is  paid  out  to  the  soldiers,  who  send  most  of  it 
home,  when  it  is  again  invested  in  government  se- 
curities; or,  to  the  makers  of  war  materials  who  also 
again  invest  it  in  the  same  manner.  Thus,  Germany's 
war  debt,  no  matter  how  large  it  may  become,  will  be 
owned  in  Germany,  by  the  German  people. 

As  to  the  method  of  paying  that  debt  and  distribut- 


148     WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

ing  its  burdens  when  the  war  is  over,  the  people  them- 
selves will  have  much  to  say.  Already  there  is  talk 
of  nationalizing  certain  basic  industries  and  paying 
the  war  debt  from  their  profits.*  At  any  rate  the  ex- 
penses of  the  war  had  not  begun  to  frighten  the  Ger- 
man people  in  February,  1915.  Apparently  they  were 
not  even  concerned.  If  they  felt  apprehension  they 
concealed  that  emotion  with  marvelous  art. 

Business  reflects  the  financial  condition. 

"When  I  came  to  Berlin,  I  made  a  deposit  in  the 
Deutsche  Bank,"  said  one  of  our  military  observers  in 
Germany;  "this  morning  I  found  that  I  had  more  to 
my  credit  than  I  had  deposited." 

Two  per  cent,  is  paid  on  checking  accounts,  three 
per  cent,  on  time  accounts.  Dividends  of  banking  and 
industrial  corporations  are,  on  the  average,  two  per 
cent,  less  than  for  1913;  the  other  two  per  cent,  being 
passed  to  surplus.  The  interest  paid  on  loans  made  by 
mortgage  banks,  loaning  on  real  estate,  is  said  to  be 
from  eighty-six  to  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  peace  times. 

Very  few  business  failures  have  occurred,  so  few 
indeed  that  they  are  considered  negligible.  In  Ham- 
burg, for  example,  there  has  been  no  failure;  yet  it 
would  seem  that  Hamburg,  as  a  shipping  point,  would 
have  been  the  hardest  hit  of  any  German  city.  The 
Roland  Line  (steamship),  of  Bremen,  actually  paid  a 
dividend  of  four  per  cent,  in  the  fall  of  1914. 

In  Berlin,  the  Siemens  Electric,  two  months  after 
the  war  broke  out,  declared  a  six  and  five-tenths  per 
cent,  dividend,  the  same  as  for  1913.  At  the  same  time 


*  See  last  chapter  of  this  book. 


A    PEOPLE   AT   WAR  149 

the  Pantzenhofer  stores  declared  a  dividend  of  eleven 
per  cent,  against  fifteen  per  cent,  the  year  before. 

But  such  figures  do  not,  of  course,  represent  the  real 
condition  of  business.  Many  conservative  business 
men  estimate  that  manufactures,  trade  and  commerce 
not  connected  with  the  war  are  only  about  fifty  per 
cent,  of  normal;  and  German  exports  at  about  one- 
half  normal,  which  would  seem  to  be  very  heavy  in- 
deed. These  exports  go  to  or  through  neighboring 
neutral  countries. 

These  estimates  of  domestic  commerce  and  export 
trade  appear  exaggerated  but  they  are  the  deliberate 
judgment  of  the  most  cautious  and  well  informed  men 
in  Germany.  The  railway  receipts  would  seem  to  jus- 
tify them.  This  barometer  of  business  registered  the 
following:  for  December,  1914,  from  messenger 
traffic,  the  receipts  were  seventy-eight  and  twelve  one- 
hundredths  per  cent,  of  the  same  month  of  1913,  of 
which  only  five  and  seventy-eight  one-hundredths  per 
cent,  was  for  military  transportation;  from  freight 
traffic  the  receipts  were  ninety-five  and  forty- four  one- 
hundredths  per  cent,  of  those  of  December,  1913,  of 
which  only  four  and  fifty- four  one-hundredths  per 
cent,  was  for  military  carriage. 

The  Germans  also  count  it  a  source  of  great  strength 
that  all  their  necessities  can  be  produced  in  Germany. 
They  would  be  helped,  of  course,  they  say,  if  they 
could  get  larger  supplies  from  other  countries  than 
they  do  receive ;  but  they  assert,  and  with  infinite  sat- 
isfaction, that  they  are  not  forced  to  depend  on  out- 
side help  to  carry  on  the  struggle  as,  declare  the  Ger- 
mans, is  the  case  with  the  Allies. 


150     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

If  their  enemies  were  given  no  aid  in  war  munitions 
and  food,  the  Germans  are  convinced  that  the  Allies 
quickly  would  collapse.  "Germany,"  said  Doctor  Helf- 
ferich,  "is  peculiarly  fortunate  in  supplying  the  re- 
quirements of  the  war  nearly  entirely  by  her  own  pro- 
duction, an  advantage  which  hardly  any  one  of  her 
enemies  enjoys."  In  short,  Germany  can  depend  on 
herself  if  compelled  to  do  so,  while  her  foes  must  rely 
on  help  from  neutral  countries,  proudly  say  the  Ger- 
mans. 

To  the  observer,  food  appears  to  be  abundant  and 
prices  surprisingly  low,  considering  that  a  state  of  war 
exists.  On  the  dining  car  from  Berlin  to  Posen,  Jan- 
uary twenty-second,  large  veal  cutlets,  with  rice,  as- 
paragus and  beans,  cost  two  marks,  or  fifty  cents. 

On  January  twenty-sixth,  in  a  people's  restaurant  in 
Berlin,  a  very  large  pork  steak,  with  sauerkraut  and 
lentils,  cost  ninety  pfennigs,  about  twenty-two  cents; 
three  shirred  eggs  cost  sixty  pfennigs,  about  fifteen 
cents,  and  half  a  young  pheasant,  with  vegetables,  was 
one  and  one-half  marks,  or  thirty-seven  cents.  These 
examples  are  typical  of  a  bill  of  fare  containing  more 
than  one  hundred  twenty  dishes.  With  each  order  of 
meat  went  a  generous  slice  of  bread. 

By  taking  meals  at  a  large  number  of  popular  eating 
places,  in  various  cities  throughout  Germany  during 
several  weeks,  it  was  found  that  prices  as  well  as  quan- 
tity and  quality  of  food  did  not  vary  perceptibly.  The 
bread  was  noticeably  darker  in  color,  from  five  per 
cent,  to  ten  per  cent,  of  potato  flour  being  used  in  its 
making.  The  Central  Market  in  Berlin,  during  the 
latter  part  of  January,  displayed  immense  quantities 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR      .          151 

of  provisions  of  every  variety,  from  newly-killed  deer 
and  other  game  yet  undressed,  and  every  other  kind  of 
meat,  down  to  cabbages,  cheese,  butter  and  potatoes. 

Soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  a  law  was 
passed  fixing  a  maximum  price  on  basic  necessities  of 
life,  a  measure  particularly  advocated  by  the  Socialists. 
The  latter  part  of  January  and  the  early  part  of  Feb- 
ruary, the  government,  by  law,  took  over  such  food- 
stuffs. The  large  quantities  of  food  served  in  restau- 
rants, and  seen  in  markets,  shops  and  inns,  made  this 
law  appear  unnecessary. 

Careful  inquiry  suggested  the  conclusion  that  this 
government  food  monopoly  is  a  precautionary  measure, 
directed  to  next  year  and  the  year  after,  more  than  to 
the  present.  It  would  seem  to  be  another  of  the  many 
evidences  which  delving  beneath  the  surface  brings  to 
light  that  Germany  is  preparing  for  a  long  war.  And 
just  this  is  the  opinion  of  exceptionally  cautious  men. 

No  one  was  found  who  feared  that  Germany  can  be 
starved.  This  confidence  in  her  food  resources  does 
not  seem  unreasonable.  The  German  has  used  applied 
science  in  agriculture  as  brilliantly  as  in  manufactur- 
ing. For  example :  the  production  of  wheat  was  fifty- 
four  per  cent,  more  per  acre  in  1908-1912  than  in  1886- 
1890  and  much  greater  than  that  of  any  other  country. 
This,  too,  despite  the  inferior  quality  of  German  soil. 

Take  one  more  out  of  a  large  number  of  similar 
items:  in  1913,  a  little  less  than  eight  per  cent,  of  the 
wheat  and  rye  consumed  in  Germany  was  imported; 
but  the  per  capita  consumption  of  wheat  and  rye  in 
Germany  had  increased  more  than  thirty  per  cent,  from 
1886-1890  to  1908-1912.  If,  then,  the  present  ordi- 


152     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

nary  consumption  were  reduced  eight  per  cent,  (repre- 
senting the  amount  imported)  there  still  would  remain 
a  quantity  of  wheat  and  rye  produced  in  Germany 
twenty-two  per  cent,  more  per  capita  than  the  German 
people  consumed  per  capita  twenty-five  years  ago,  and 
more  than  is  now  consumed  in  most  other  countries; 
considerably  more,  for  example,  than  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  reasons  why  the 
German  people  feel  easy  on  the  food  question.  As  they 
look  upon  it  at  the  present  moment,  they  can  carry 
the  war  on  indefinitely  as  far  as  food  is  concerned. 

As  for  the  ammunition:  The  unsparing  use  of  it, 
as  personally  observed  on  both  eastern  and  western 
fronts,  suggested  no  shortage.  On  the  contrary,  to 
the  untrained  looker-on,  the  Germans  seemed  to  have 
an  unlimited  supply.  Also  German  scientists  are  at 
work  on  the  ammunition  question.  They  are  reclaim- 
irig  nitrate  from  the  air.  It  is  believed  that  three  such 
factories  are  already  at  work,*  and  that  several  more 
will  be  in  operation  before  summer. 

Many  Americans  have  supposed  that  the  Allies 
would  exhaust  Germany's  ammunition  supply;  but  in 
January,  1915,  that  did  not  appear  to  be  probable.  In 
considering  this  vital  subject  one  should  never  over- 
look the  unknown  resources  and  the  wizard-like  re- 
sourcefulness of  the  German  laboratory.  Back  of  the 
German  gun  is  the  German  test-tube;  back  of  the  Ger- 
man artilleryman  is  the  German  chemist. 

Oil,  too,  engages  the  constructive  thought  of  Ger- 
man science;  though  one  received  the  impression  that 
*  February  12,  1915. 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  153 

the  Germans  have  more  oil  than  the  authorities  are 
willing  to  have  generally  known.  Certainly,  no  lack  of 
its  products  was  apparent  at  the  front  during  the  sixth 
month  of  the  war.  But,  be  that  as  it  may,  here  again 
the  fortunes  of  war  favor  the  German  scientist — some 
substance  has  been  found  in  France,  from  which  it  is 
said  a  valuable  substitute  is  being  manufactured. 

From  other  hitherto  unused  materials  a  substitute 
for  benzine  is  being  made.  The  thousands  of  taxicabs 
and  traffic  automobiles  dashing  about  German  cities 
are  run  by  alcohol.  Wood  and  potatoes  furnish  un- 
limited supplies  of  this  spirit.  In  other  ways  nature 
is  yielding  to  German  science,  resources  unused  or  un- 
known before  the  exigencies  of  war  stimulated  their 
discovery. 

Those  who  think  of  this  war  only  in  terms  of  men, 
horses  and  guns  are  following  ancient  formulas.  In 
Germany,  at  least,  the  chemist  and  analyst  are  as  po- 
tent as  courage  of  private  soldier  or  genius  of  field 
marshal. 

Take  now  the  copper  problem:  Germany  produces 
in  ordinary  times  about  forty  thousand  and  imports 
two  hundred  thousand  tons,  annually,  most  of  which  is 
manufactured  and  exported.  Thus  the  conclusion  ap- 
pears to  be  reasonable  that,  at  the  outbreak  of  war, 
there  were  considerably  more  than  two  hundred  thou- 
sand tons  of  crude  or  freshly  manufactured  copper. 
Cut  this  estimate  in  half  and  there  still  would  be 
enough  for  one  year's  warfare,  upon  the  most  extrava- 
gant calculation  for  military  uses.  Also,  there  is  in 
Germany,  in  various  forms,  such  as  copper  roofing, 
brass  furnishings,  etc.,  a  very  large  supply  of  copper. 


154     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

For  example,  as  General  Director  Albert  Ballin,  of 
the  Hamburg-American  Line,  pointed  out,  the  copper 
wires  of  the  electric  street-car  lines  alone  would  fur- 
nish one  hundred  twenty  thousand  tons,  enough  for 
nearly  thirteen  months.  All  this  is  on  the  assumption 
that  Germany  had  laid  up  no  copper  for  military  pur- 
poses, against  the  possible  contingency  of  war. 

But  what  of  Germany's  supply  of  men?  Out  of 
several  estimates,  none  of  them  official,  let  us  examine 
the  most  conservative  one — conservative  in  the  sense 
of  putting  the  worst  face  on  the  situation.  Some  Ger- 
jmans  will  say  that  it  is  extreme  in  its  conservatism, 
expressed  in  terms  of  pessimism. 

This  computation  places  Germany's  total  loss,  up  to 
January  1,  1915,  at  850,000  men  in  round  numbers,  of 
which  seventeen  per  cent,  were  killed,  eighteen  per 
cent,  missing  and  sixty-five  per  cent,  were  wounded. 
Of  the  wounded,  sixty  per  cent,  have  returned  to  duty. 

To  be  on  the  safe  side,  let  us  add  150,000  men  to 
this  estimate,  making  a  total  of  1,000,000.  This 
would  mean  650,000  wounded,  sixty  per  cent,  of 
whom,  or  340,000  men,  have  returned  to  service,  leav- 
ing 610,000  men  as  the  total  number  killed,  missing 
or  incapacitated  for  further  service.  This  reckoning 
places  the  German  loss  for  1915  at  900,000  or  1,500,- 
000  men  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  up  to  January 
1,  1916;  the  reduction  of  casualties  for  1915  is  based 
on  greater  prudence  and  experience  of  the  men  in 
action. 

Assuming  that  there  are  5,000,000  under  arms,  Ger- 
many has  about  1,500,000  men  additional,  ready  for 
service  every  year,  in  ordinary  course.  So  that,  accord- 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  155 

ing  to  this  estimate,  Germany  can  always  keep  more 
than  5,000,000  men  in  the  field— at  least  up  to  1921 — 
without  straining  her  resources  in  men ;  and  more  than 
5,000,000  at  any  one  time  can  not  be  used  to  advantage. 

The  estimate  here  quoted  considers  even  extreme 
and  desperate  emergency :  it  calculates  from  critical 
and  exhaustive  study  of  historic  data,  that  a  country 
hard  pressed  can  put  from  seventeen  per  cent,  to  twenty 
per  cent,  of  its  population  in  the  field.  Seventeen  per 
cent,  of  68,000,000  people,  Germany's  present  popula- 
tion, is  11,560,000;  and  that  many  German  men  would 
go  to  the  front  if  Germany  needed  them. 

But  the  firmest  foundation  of  their  faith  in  victory 
is  the  spirit  of  the  German  people.  Germany's  most 
remorseless  enemy  would  not  deny  this  if,  unknown, 
he  could  mingle  with  the  masses.  To  the  neutral  and 
impartial  observer,  this  German  spirit  flames  to  the 
heavens  like  some  elemental  and  sacred  fire.  Already, 
it  is  producing  a  literature  of  such  quality  that  one 
may  read  in  it  the  prophecy  of  another  notable  period 
in  German  letters.  It  is  a  people's  literature ;  it  comes 
from  the  homely  German  fireside,  and  from  the 
trenches,  where  men  are  dying. 

Poems  have  appeared,  written  by  hands  unfamiliar 
with  the  pen,  yet  charged  with  a  tenderness,  courage 
and  sacrificial  spirit  that  no  mere  word-craftsman 
could  have  fused  into  polished  verse. 

Letters  of  parents  to  sons  and  of  youths  to  parents 
exhibit  these  same  qualities  even  more  clearly.  Here 
is  an  extract  from  a  letter  by  a  German  father  to  his 
son,  who,  though  at  the  front,  was  serving,  under  or- 
ders, as  a  chauffeur : 


"Why  don't  you  write  us  about  the  battlefield  in  any 
of  your  letters?  Aren't  you  going  to  get  into  the  firing- 
line  in  your  present  command  ?  .  .  .  Think  of  your 
brother,  August,  who  volunteered  for  patrol  duty  and 
was  killed  by  the  enemy's  bullet!  I  mourn  for  him 
but  I  am  proud  that,  in  doing  a  brave  act,  he  gave  his 
life  for  the  Fatherland.  If  my  old  legs  could  carry 
me,  I  should  gladly  go  and  fight.  .  .  .  Do  your 
whole  duty,  even  if  it  cost  you  your  life." 

Or  take  this  example,  from  the  letter  of  a  seventeen- 
year-old  son,  in  the  high  school,  to  his  parents : 

"Let  me  go  as  a  volunteer  to  the  war.  ...  I  have 
thought  of  all  the  great  things  being  done  by  our 
troops,  in  order  to  build  up  a  new,  peaceful  life.  .  .  . 
I  finally  thought :  'Father  must  allow  this ;  he  must  be 
willing  to  offer  me  as  a  sacrifice  for  my  country.' 
....  So,  my  dear  parents,  let  me  go  as  a  volunteer. 
....  Mother  has  often  taught  me  that  an  act 
freely  done  is  finer  in  God's  sight  than  a  forced  one. 
....  Trust  to  the  God  of  old,  who  is  watching 
over  our  whole  people — He  will  deal  well  by  them  as 
by  me.  He  speaks  in  me :  Love  of  Fatherland  is  also 
love  of  God,  because  we  are  fighting  a  fight  of  truth 
against  falsehood,  a  fight  of  justice  .  .  .  against 
tyranny.  .  .  .  There  are  things  to  which  one  can 
not  answer  'No.'  May  God  make  your  hearts  feel  so 
fully  and  so  deeply  the  right  of  my  request  that  you 
will  give  me  your  blessing :  'God  be  with  you !' ' 

Just  one  more  illustration,  even  at  the  risk  of  being 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  157 

tedious.  Theodor  Leipart,  head  of  the  German  Wood- 
workers' Union,  lost  his  only  son  in  the  war,  a  mere 
boy  who  had  volunteered.  The  members  of  the  Union 
passed  resolutions  of  condolence.  But  in  thanking 
them  for  their  thought  and  sympathy  he  writes : 

"My  son  left  his  school  desk,  full  of  earnest  en- 
thusiasm, at  the  call  of  the  Fatherland.  In  spite  of  his 
youth,  he  knew  very  well  what  it  meant.  A  few  days 
before  a  shell  ended  his  young  life,  he  wrote  from  the 
battlefield :  'I  bear  everything,  for  I  feel  that  I  am  do- 
ing it  for  your  sake,  dear  father,  to  defend  you.' 

"So  has  fought  and  bled  each  of  the  thousands  of 
fathers,  brothers  and  sons,  for  his  loved  ones  at  home, 
and  together,  for  the  Fatherland  and  the  people. 
True,  I  had  the  ambition  and  the  hope  that  my  son 
might  do  more  and  bigger  things  for  the  Fatherland, 
the  German  people  and  all  humanity,  than  merely  to 
give  his  fair  young  life. 

"Yet  I  shall  not  on  that  account  quarrel  with  the 
fate  that  has  laid  upon  me  this  heavy  grief;  and  the 
less  since  it  costs  all  the  other  thousands  the  same — 
thousands  who  are  one  in  their  holy  purpose  to  guard 
the  future  in  all  the  relations  of  man.  This  means 
also  that  peaceful  struggle  which  we  carried  on  before 
the  war  and  shall  carry  on  when  the  war  shall  have 
been  finished. 

"And  so  we  mean  to  hope  that  the  great  agonizing 
labor  which  the  Fatherland  now  claims  of  us,  will  light 
our  striving  for  righteousness,  welfare  and  peace  for 
all  the  comrades  among  the  people  in  the  future,  and 
so  prove  our  blessing." 


158     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

This  letter  from  the  head  of  one  of  the  strongest 
and  most  influential  labor  unions  in  Germany,  was 
published  in  the  Arbeit er-Zeitung  (the  Working  Man's 
News)  of  January  24,  1915. 

Following  the  letter,  this  one  line  appeared  as  the 
only  editorial  comment : 

"Yes;  and  there  still  flows  yet  more  precious  blood 
upon  earth.  .  .  ." 

The  above  letters,  copied  from  German  newspapers, 
are  characteristic.  The  German  mails  are  burdened 
with  them.  The  German  press  is  filled  with  them.  A 
volume  would  be  needed  merely  to  cite  such  examples. 
Talks  with  common  soldiers  on  both  eastern  and  west- 
ern battle  lines,  and  in  the  hospitals,  showed  this  Ger- 
man spirit  in  a  vital  human  way — their  words  were 
stirring  enough,  but  the  light  in  the  eye,  the  glow  from 
the  features,  made  doubt  of  their  earnestness  impos- 
sible. 

Church  attendance  and  service  afforded  another 
manifestation  of  the  popular  spirit.  All  Germany  is 
stirred  by  a  profound  religious  movement,  which 
showed  itself  before  the  war  began.  The  religious 
element  of  the  German  character  is  displaying  itself 
in  an  exalted,  but  quiet  and  steady  devotion.  Attend- 
ance on  divine  services,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  in  city 
and  village;  the  war  sermons;  the  atmosphere  of  wor- 
ship; the  devotion  in  the  faces  of  congregations;  the 
uniforms  of  soldiers  and  officers  weaving  strands  of 
gray  through  the  prevailing  black  of  the  composite 
costume;  the  massed  singing  of  ancient  hymns — wit- 
nessing and  hearing  all  this  was  as  informing  and 
scarcely  less  dramatic  than  scenes  on  the  firing-line. 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  159 

Listening  to  German  war  sermons  gave  the  most 
scoffing  American  pause,  so  tender  are  they,  yet  so 
militant. 

Swing,  now,  to  a  more  practical  evidence  of  this 
spirit.  Many,  perhaps  most,  financial  or  industrial 
concerns  continue  to  pay  their  employees  absent  in  the 
field  a  substantial  part  of  their  salary  For  example : 
more  than  three  thousand  out  of  the  eight  thousand 
regular  employees  of  the  Deutsche  Bank  are  at  the 
front.  To  the  unmarried,  of  these  absent  employees, 
the  bank  pays  thirty  per  cent,  of  their  regular  salary. 

To  those  married,  sixty  per  cent,  of  their  regular 
salary  is  paid,  and  an  additional  five  per  cent,  for  every 
child  born,  up  to  a  limit  of  eighty  per  cent.  In  the 
fortnightly  paper  which  the  bank  publishes  for  its  em- 
ployees, appear  always  two  pages  of  honor:  one 
giving,  under  the  caption  "The  Hero  Dead,"  the  names 
of  the  bank's  employees  who  have  been  killed,  and  an- 
other the  names  of  the  employees  who  have  won  the 
Iron  Cross. 

Many  working  men's  unions  pay  the  wives  of  their 
members  who  now  are  soldiers,  weekly  allowances. 
For  the  first  three  months  of  the  war,  these  labor  or- 
ganizations expended  $3,000,000  in  this  way.  Since 
these  first  three  months,  the  unions  have  increased 
these  benefits.  At  first  they  thought  they  could  not 
keep  up  the  rate  of  these  allowances;  and,  indeed,  the 
funds  of  the  unions  did  decrease. 

But  they  are  now  increasing.  The  metal-workers, 
for  instance,  had  18,000,000  marks  on  hand  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war.  After  three  months  of  war,  this 
had  sunk  to  16,000,000  marks.  But  on  the  first  of 


160     WHAT    IS   BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

February,  1915,  the  metal-workers  again  had  nearly 
18,000,000  marks  in  their  treasury.  And  this  is  only 
one  of  the  many  labor  unions  of  Germany  which  are 
doing  the  same. 

Also,  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  German  Labor 
Union  and  Socialist  newspapers  are  sent  to  the  Trades 
Union  and  Socialist  soldiers  at  the  front — hundreds 
of  thousands  of  them.* 

Now,  turn  the  light  in  another  direction;  it  reveals 
the  German  volunteer  as  a  visible  and  embattled  mani- 
festation of  the  German  spirit.  The  quality  of  these 
volunteers  is  as  significant  as  their  numbers.  Hard- 
headed  business  men,  the  proprietors  of  great  estab- 
lishments; distinguished  public  men;  learned  and  fa- 
mous professors — all  far  past  military  age — were 
found  at  the  front,  as  volunteers,  enduring  the  hard- 
ships, braving  the  dangers  of  the  simple  soldier.  Here 
are  three  of  many  such  examples  which  came  under 
personal  observation: 

Calling  at  battery  headquarters,  after  visiting  the 
guns  before  Messines,  where  flying  death  was  singing 
in  the  air,  the  artillery  commander  was  found  to  be 
a  leading  German  business  man,  head  of  one  of  the 
greatest  chemical  manufactories  in  the  empire.  Al- 
though past  military  age,  yet  there  he  was,  serving  as 
a  volunteer,  only  his  importance  compelling  his  accept- 
ance by  the  government. 

On  the  way  from  Lille,  France,  to  Grand  Headquar- 
ters, a  former  Governor  of  German  East  Africa,  with 
the  high  title  of  "Excellency,"  was  found  acting  as 


*  See  chapter  on  "German  Thought  Back  of  the  War,"  No.  2, 
Chapter  VIII. 


A    PEOPLE   AT    WAR  161 

sergeant  of  the  guard.  He  also  was  a  volunteer  and 
over  military  age.  His  high  position  and  past  serv- 
ices secured  him  the  privilege  of  enlisting  as  a  com- 
mon soldier.  He  had  just  won  his  sergeant's  stripes 
after  months  of  service  as  a  simple  private. 

Houston  Stewart  Chamberlain,  author  of  The  Foun- 
dations of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  dedicated  his  Es- 
says on  the  War  to  an  eminent  German  professor, 
who,  although  nearly  fifteen  years  beyond  the  mili- 
tary age,  demanded  to  be  taken  as  a  volunteer,  and 
now  is  serving  in  the  trenches,  sleeping  in  underground 
quarters. 

Mention  is  made  in  another  chapter  of  Doctor 
Frank,  the  Socialist  leader,  and  strongest  peace  advo- 
cate of  Europe,  who  volunteered  at  the  outset,  and 
soon  afterward  fell  in  battle;  and  of  Doctor  Siidekum, 
now  leader  of  the  Social  Democratic  party,  who  vol- 
unteered and  is  now  at  the  front. 

These  examples  are  not  exceptional  nor  peculiar; 
there  are  thousands  like  them. 

Time  and  again,  in  America,  one  hears  the  question 
asked:  "How  long  will  German  women  stand  this 
war?  Why  don't  they  end  it?"  You  may  read  the 
answer  in  Tacitus,  where  he  tells  of  German  women 
fighting  at  their  husbands'  sides  against  the  Romans. 
For,  now  as  then,  the  answer  is,  first,  that  German 
women  are  prepared  to  stand  this  war  until  Germany 
triumphs  or  is  destroyed :  and  second,  that  they  do  not 
want  it  ended  until  Germany  is  victorious. 

"My  son,  my  husband,  my  all  I  gladly  give  in  this 
sacred  cause,"  said  a  prominent  German  woman. 

"I  glory  that  my  brother  fell  for  Germany.    I  wish 


162     WHAT   IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

I  could  go  myself,"  said  a  young  woman  of  the  work- 
ing class,  whose  betrothed  also  was  in  the  field. 

"I  never  have  heard  nor  read  of  anything  like  it," 
said  Baroness  Speck  von  Sternberg,  (an  American 
woman)  widow  of  the  well  known  and  much  liked 
late  German  Ambassador  to  the  United  States.  "The 
calm  willingness  to  sacrifice  all,  which  German  women 
are  displaying,  can  not  be  believed  unless  one  sees  and 
hears  it."  And  Baroness  von  Sternberg  gave  many 
illustrations  within  her  own  knowledge.  "And,"  said 
she,  "you  may  quote  what  I  have  said,  and  give  my 
name." 

A  widow,  whose  two  sons  and  son-in-law  are 
serving  in  the  ranks,  declared  that  she  was  proud  to 
have  them  go  because  "this  is  a  just  war."  This  woman 
was  a  Swiss,  who  had  married  a  German. 

"I  would  not  have  the  war  end  now,  nor  would  any 
German  girl  or  woman  of  my  acquaintance,"  said  Miss 
Strauss,  a  young  business  woman,  met  at  luncheon  at 
the  house  of  Doctor  Siidekum,  the  Socialist  leader. 
"It  must  not  end,"  said  she,  "until  Germany  wins. 
The  German  woman  grieves,  but  gladly  bears  her 
burden.  It  is  our  duty."  Time  and  time  and  time 
again,  from  both  men  and  women,  rich  and  poor,  you 
hear  that  one  word  "duty!" 

A  rich  woman  of  Hamburg  asked  her  bank  for 
fifteen  thousand  marks,  immediately.  She  could  have 
had  one  hundred  fifty  thousand  marks  immediately; 
"but,"  said  the  banker,  with  that  guardian-like  care  of 
his  clients  peculiar  to  bankers,  "what  do  you  want  with 
fifteen  thousand  marks?" 

"My  three  sons  are  at  the  front.    Two  of  them  still 


A   PEOPLE   AT   WAR  163 

are  there,"  she  answered;  "but  my  third  son  was 
wounded  so  that  he  can  not  fight  any  more.  But  I 
want  him  to  go  back  with  his  brothers  and  act  as  chauf- 
feur (a  service  often  as  hazardous  as  that  of  the 
trenches!)  and  I  want  this  money  to  buy  an  automo- 
bile for  him.  I  want  no  son  of  mine  at  home  while 
this  war  lasts !" 

"Ask  my  little  son  how  he  feels,"  said  Frau  von 
Xylander,  of  Munich,  wife  of  the  Major-Adjutant  at 
headquarters  of  the  VI  army.  "I  only  wish  I  had 
twelve  sons  old  enough  to  serve  by  their  father's  side. 
Gladly  would  I  give  them  all  for  Germany.  Every 
woman  I  know  feels  as  I  do.  German  women  glory 
in  their  sacrifice  for  our  country.  To  give  is  our  duty, 
the  noblest  of  duties.  I  know  of  no  German  woman 
who  has  shown  weakness."  And  Frau  von  Xylander 
gave  examples,  as  Baroness  von  Sternberg  had  done. 
"And,"  said  she,  "I  unreservedly  consent  to  your  writ- 
ing what  I  have  said,  and  using  my  name." 

These  examples  are  typical  of  all  those  coming  un- 
der personal  observation.  It  is  believed  that  they  fairly 
represent  the  general  sentiment  of  German  women.  If 
so,  the  American  reader  may  judge  for  himself  of  the 
depth  of  German  feeling  and  the  height  of  German 
resolve. 

Disagree  if  you  will  with  their  opinion  on  the  war; 
but  do  not  deny  the  German  people's  sincerity,  do  not 
cavil  at  their  heroism.  Remember,  always,  that,  as 
far  as  Germany  is  concerned,  this  is  the  people's  war. 

"You  can  not,  Sir,"  said  Edmund  Burke,  "indict  a 
people." 


VII 

GERMAN  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — I* 

Savant,  Shipping  Genius,  Business  Man 

WHAT  a  people  are  thinking  when  at  war,  is 
as  vital  a  fact  as  guns  and  ammunition.  To 
state  this  is  too  serious  a  matter  for  the  careful  stu- 
dent to  undertake  exclusively  on  his  own  responsibil- 
ity, no  matter  how  painstaking  his  investigation.  For 
one  can  never  be  sure  that  he  is  interpreting  another's 
view  correctly.  But  if  that  other  himself  states  his 
own  thought,  a  degree  of  accuracy  is  secured.  This 
course  has  been  followed  in  presenting  German 
thought  and  feeling  as  it  was  during  the  sixth  and 
seventh  months  of  the  war. 

The  same  method,  of  course,  was  adopted  in  France 
and  England  as  will  appear  in  succeeding  chapters. 

The  present  chapter  is  a  careful  report  of  conversa- 
tions with  representatives  of  various  classes  of  the 
German  people,  scholars,  business  men,  Socialists, 
Trades  Unionists.  Out  of  many  interviews,  five  typical 
ones  are  reproduced  in  this  and  the  following  chapter. 

They  were  written  out  and  submitted  to  the  person 
conversed  with,  who  altered  or  verified  the  transcript 


*  These  conversations  occurred  during  January,  1915. 

164 


GERMAN    THOUGHT  165 

and  authorized  publication.  They,  therefore,  may  be 
considered  reasonably  reliable. 

They  are  not,  of  course,  in  any  sense  a  presentation 
of  Germany's  case.*  These  conversations  are  the  fa- 
miliar talk  of  representative  German  men,  all  of  them 
extremely  busy ;  and  they  give  casually  and  in  offhand 
fashion  typical  German  thought  as  it  was  after  half  a 
year  of  conflict.  Incidentally,  they  deal  with  some  sub- 
jects much  discussed  in  America. 

The  writer  acts  merely  as  a  reporter — a  medium 
through  which  the  ideas  prevailing  and  the  facts  exist- 
ing, as  they  really  are,  in  three  countries  at  war,  are 
conveyed  to  the  American  public.  While  the  student 
of  peoples  at  war  must  maintain  sympathetic  serious- 

*  The  American  public  is  of  course  familiar  with  the  German 
view  of  the  deep  source  of  the  war.  The  Germans  believe  that 
the  pan-Slavist  program,  which  is  racial  and  religious,  included 
the  break-up  of  the  Austrian  Empire ;  that  Servia  was  the  Rus- 
sian agency  through  which  this  was  being  brought  about;  that 
with  Austria  destroyed,  Germany  would  be  entirely  surrounded 
by  enemies,  practically  cut  off  from  the  world,  and  her  very 
existence  imperiled ;  that  Russia  knew  that  Germany  must  there- 
fore fight  to  save  Austria  (which  Germany's  alliance  with  Aus- 
tria also  bound  Germany  to  do)  and  so  Russia  mobilized  on 
Germany's  frontiers ;  that  the  fact  that  Russia  did  not  stop  mo- 
bilizing when  asked  to  dp  so  meant  war ;  and,  hence,  that  Ger- 
many was  forced  to  strike  or  be  overwhelmed.  Thus,  in  the 
German  mind,  the  war  on  Germany's  part  was  and  is  purely 
defensive. 

As  to  France,  the  Germans  say  that  Germany  would  not  have 
attacked  her  except  for  the  absolute  certainty  that  France  would 
attack  Germany  as  she  was  bound  to  do  by  her  alliance  with 
Russia. 

The  most  curious  feature  of  the  war  is  the  fact  that  not  only 
do  the  Germans  declare  that  they  have  no  rancor  toward  France 
or  the  French ;  on  the  contrary,  as  stated  in  Chapter  VI,  the 
expressions  heard  in  Germany  during  the  sixth  month  of  the 
war  were  distinctly  friendly  to  the  French. 

But,  during  the  sixth  month  of  the  war,  when  these  conver- 
sations took  place,  German  thought  was  that  Great  Britain  was 


166     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

ness  in  order  to  get  the  real  spirit  of  the  belligerent 
countries  visited,  yet  he  must  at  the  same  time  have 
ever  in  his  heart  the  getting  and  the  stating  of  the  facts 
regardless  of  whether  they  fit  anybody's  preconceived 
ideas. 

This  much  is  said  in  order  that  the  reader  may 
clearly  understand  that  what  is  set  down  in  this  book 
is  an  attempt  to  express  faithfully  not  only  material, 
but  intellectual  and  spiritual  conditions  as  they  were 
in  the  warring  countries  at  the  time  investigation  was 
made. 

The  Foremost  of  the  World's  Theologians 

The  great  Professor  von  Harnack  is  the  unchal- 
lenged leader  of  German  theological  thought.  By  the 
learned  of  the  earth,  he  is  considered  the  most  re- 
nowned historical  theologian  in  the  world — certainly 
the  highest  Protestant  authority.  Professor  von  Har- 
nack also  stands  in  the  forefront  of  philosophical 


the  power  practically  and  ultimately  responsible.  It  was  Great 
Britain,  say  the  Germans,  who  arranged  the  entente  that  almost 
circles  Germany  with  a  band  of  steel  which  would  close  entirely 
if  the  pan-Slavist  program  was  carried  out ;  England,  declare 
the  Germans,  planned  to  invade  Germany  through  Belgium  by 
a  military  understanding  with  the  latter  country,  violating  Bel- 
gium's treaty  with  Germany,  and  destroying  Belgian  neutrality; 
Russia  would  not  have  dared  to  move,  the  Germans  assert,  if 
she  had  not  been  sure  of  the  support  of  Great  Britain,  etc.,  etc. 

And  all  for  what,  ask  the  Germans?  and  the  Germans  affirm, 
in  answer,  that  Great  Britain's  motive  was  to  crush  her  most 
powerful  commercial  rival.  Great  Britain  was  not  willing,  the 
Germans  say,  to  attempt  this  by  herself  but  only  in  company 
with  a  combination  so  mighty  that  she  was  sure  Germany  would 
be  beaten  quickly  and  easily. 

The  conversations  narrated  in  this  chapter,  therefore,  deal 
principally  with  Great  Britain. 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  167 

thinkers.  His  personal  friend,  the  German  Emperor, 
admires  him  as  much  as  do  the  scholars  of  all 
countries.  Only  by  a  personal  letter  to  Professor  von 
Harnack  from  an  American  friend  was  a  conversation 
with  this  German  savant  possible. 

This  most  eminent  of  the  world's  theologians  was 
first  met  in  the  Royal  Library,  of  which  he  is  the  di- 
rector. Afterward  the  conversation  was  resumed  at  his 
modest  home  in  Grunewald,  the  scholar  suburb  of 
Berlin. 

"I  wish,"  said  I,  in  explaining  my  mission  to  Pro- 
fessor von  Harnack,  "to  get  at  the  thought  which 
moves  modern  Germany.  And  so  I  have  come  to 
you." 

"I  am  a  very  humble  person  and  should  not  presume 
to  say  that  I  could  express  German  thought,"  answered 
Professor  von  Harnack,  with  unaffected  modesty.  "But 
I  shall  be  glad  to  do  what  I  can." 

"You  know,"  said  I,  "that  American  public  opinion 
is  against  Germany  in  this  war." 

"I  have  heard  that  such  is  the  fact,  and  it  pains  and 
grieves  me.  Why  should  it  be  so?"  Professor  von 
Harnack  inquired. 

"Many  reasons  are  given,  some  practical,  some 
philosophical,"  I  explained.  "Among  the  latter,  we 
Americans  have  been  told  that  modern  Germany  is 
governed  by  the  philosophy  of  Professor  Treitschke, 
who  is  represented  to  us  as  having  preached  the  doc- 
trine of  force,  the  idea  that  might  makes  right  and  that 
war  is  necessary  and  a  good  thing  in  itself." 

"That  is  incorrect,"  mildly  answered  this  grave- 
faced,  gentle,  kindly  master  of  theological  thought 


168     WHAT   IS   BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

and  learning.  "Treitschke  merely  interpreted  history 
as  it  actually  was,  not  as  it  ought  to  be.  Also,  such 
of  his  language  as  might  be  misinterpreted  at  present 
was  used  with  reference  to  the  epochal  period  of 
1868-71.  These  passages  from  his  lectures  have  had 
no  influence  on  the  thought  of  German  people  now 
living." 

"But,"  I  insisted,  "his  warlike  utterances  are  those 
which  Americans  have  been  told  represent  the  Ger- 
man ideal." 

"But  Lord  Acton,  professor  of  modern  history  in 
Cambridge,  went  farther  than  Treitschke  ever  dreamed 
of  going  in  this  line,"  observed  the  great  German 
scholar.  "In  his  introductory  lecture,  as  Professor  of 
History  at  Cambridge,  twelve  or  fifteen  years  ago, 
Lord  Acton  said:  The  objects  of  history  are  only 
those  things  for  which  people  die  or  kill.'  Lord  Acton 
was  a  super-Treitschke. 

"But,"  continued  Professor  von  Harnack,  "do 
Americans  think  that  in  these  lectures  Lord  Acton  ex- 
pressed the  ideal  of  the  British  people?  If  not,  why  do 
they  think  that  Treitschke  in  the  few  sentences  he 
spoke  concerning  nearly  half  a  century  ago  expressed 
the  thought  of  present-day  Germany?  Does  our  history 
since  Treitschke's  time  show  it?  We  have  devoted  our- 
selves to  industry  during  that  period  without  a  single 
war,  while  England  has  had  many  wars;  and  every 
one  of  our  enemies  more  than  one  war." 

"But,"  I  remarked,  "General  Bernhardi's  book  has 
been  widely  circulated  in  America  since  the  war  be- 
gan. It  is  said  that  it  is  the  practical  application  of 
Treitschke's  philosophy  of  war." 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  169 

"I  never  read  it,"  Professor  von  Harnack  replied. 
"I  do  not  know  any  one  who  has  read  it.  I  never 
heard  of  it  until  long  after  the  war  began.  It  could 
not  have  had  much  of  a  sale.  It  had  no  influence  on 
German  thought."* 

"But,"  I  persisted,  "it  is  said  that  German  'mili- 
tarism' is  the  result  of  Treitschke's  philosophy  and 
Bernhardi's  book  is  its  expression." 

"'Militarism'!  What  do  you  mean  by  that?"  in- 
quired Professor  von  Harnack. 

"Germany's  military  party,  Germany's  military 
caste,"  I  answered. 

"Military  party,  military  caste  in  Germany!"  ex- 
claimed Germany's  great  savant,  in  tones  of  mild  sur- 
prise. "There  are  no  such  things  in  Germany!  If  by 
'militarism'  you  mean  our  army,  the  answer  is  that  it 
is  the  German  people.  If  by  'military  caste'  you  mean 


*  The  fact  that  Bernhardi's  war  book  had  little  circulation  in 
Germany,  indeed,  was  practically  unknown  before  the  war,  was 
one  of  the  startling  surprises  of  which  investigation  revealed  so 
many.  Firmly  convinced  that  this  militarist  writer  is  the  inter- 
preter of  German  ideals  and  purposes,  the  American  student  of 
German  conditions  was  shocked  to  find  that  Bernhardi's  book  had 
been  read  by  very  few  Germans. 

Dr.  F.  Schmidt,  well  known  to  many  American  scholars,  is 
my  authority  for  the  statement  that  only  6,000  were  published  in 
Germany,  not  all  of  which  were  sold.  Houston  Stewart  Cham- 
berlain, author  of  The  Foundations  of  the  iqth  Century,  said 
that  he  never  heard  of  Bernhardi's  volume  until  after  the  war 
broke  out  when  he  learned  of  it  from  British  newspapers,  for  the 
first  time.  Professor  D.  Adolph  Deissman,  the  eminent  scholar, 
who  is,  perhaps,  by  experience  and  personal  contact,  as  familiar 
with  the  student  body  of  all  Germany  as  any  living  man,  declared 
in  the  Protestant  Weekly  Letter  that  before  the  war,  Bernhardi's 
book  was  unheard  of  in  German  academic  circles. 

Of  a  large  number  of  Germans,  scholars,  bankers  and  work- 
ing men,  personally  interviewed,  not  one  had  read  Bernhardi's 
book,  even  yet 


170     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR       .     : 

our  officers,  the  answer  is  that  they  are  forbidden  by 
law  to  take  any  part  in  politics.  They  have  not  as 
much  influence  with  our  government  as  the  German 
working  man  or  merchant."* 

"Of  course  that  is  true  if  you  say  it.  Still,  it  is  hard 
for  us  Americans  to  understand  how  Germany  was 
able  to  put  so  many  men  in  the  field  so  quickly,  and 
be  ready  to  place  twice  that  many  more  in  the  field  to 
supply  any  possible  loss,"  I  argued. 

"The  answer  is  as  simple  as  it  is  sublime,"  remarked 
this  grand  old  man — for  any  one  meeting  Professor 
von  Harnack  would  describe  him  as  "this  grand  old 
man."  "It  is  a  people,  an  whole  people,  an  united 
people,  in  arms.  Nothing  else  could  explain  the  won- 
derful phenomenon  we  are  witnessing  in  Germany  ex- 
cept the  fact  of  an  whole  people  fighting  for  their 
lives." 

"But,"  I  suggested,  "we  Americans  do  not  under- 
stand why  this  war  involves  the  welfare  of  the  Ger- 
man people  themselves.  Even  those  unfriendly  to 
Germany  say  that  they  love  and  admire  the  German 
people,  and  the  Germany  of  Goethe  and  Schiller,  but 
that  this  Germany  has  given  way  to  a  commercialized, 
military  Germany." 

"Commercialized !"  exclaimed  the  renowned  German 
teacher.  "I  have  been  lecturing  for  thirty  years,  and 


*  The  Germans  indignantly  deny  the  influence  of  a  "military 
party"  in  Germany,  or  even  the  existence  of  such  a  political  or 
governmental  force,  as  it  is  understood  in  America.  Unless 
scores  of  Germans,  all  over  the  empire,  of  highest  character  and 
from  all  political  parties  and  every  walk  of  life,  were  wilfully 
and  by  prearrangement  deceiving  the  investigator,  it  would  ap- 
pear that  we  have  not  been  fully  informed  on  this  point. 


GERMAN    THOUGHT  171 

I  tell  you  that  in  the  last  ten  years  there  has  been  more 
interest  among  German  students  and  indeed  among 
all  classes,  in  metaphysical  and  spiritual  subjects  than 
there  was  thirty  years  ago — yes,  a  great  deal  more,  a 
very  great  deal  more.  Indeed,  this  is  the  greatest  fact 
in  modern  Germany's  intellectual  and  spiritual  life." 

"But  what  about  your  industrial  development? 
Your  world  commerce?"  I  asked. 

"That  was  necessary  to  our  physical  existence,"  an- 
swered Professor  von  Harnack.  "And  what  of  it? 
Does  the  fact  that  men  work  mean  that  they  do  not 
think?  Indeed,  it  is  because  we  not  only  worked  but 
also  thought  that  we  have  made  this  industrial  prog- 
ress. Our  multiplying  millions  had  to  be  fed.  They 
could  be  fed  only  by  giving  them  the  means  of  earning 
their  own  livelihood.  Is  that  wrong?  Is  that  'com- 
mercialism' ?" 

"But  your  central,  Imperial  government — it  is  said 
that  that  represents  militarism  and  not  industry,"  I  ex- 
plained. 

"Who  says  that?"  exclaimed  Professor  von  Har- 
nack. "The  Imperial  government  has  kept  the  peace 
of  Europe  for  almost  fifty  years.  It  is  during  the 
period  of  the  Imperial  government  that  the  German 
people  have  made  their  wonderful  economic  advance. 
Any  business  man  or  working  man  will  tell  you  that 
Germany's  industrial  and  commercial  development 
could  not  have  occurred  without  this  central,  Imperial 
government.  It  could  not  have  happened,  if  the  Ger- 
man states  were  separate,  each  for  itself,  as  they  once 
were,  instead  of  all  for  each  and  each  for  all,  as  they 
now  are." 


172     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

"Is  that  why,"  I  asked,  "that  Your  Excellency 
thinks  that  some  of  Germany's  enemies  complain  of 
and  wish  to  destroy  Germany's  central,  Imperial  gov- 
ernment, and  put  Germany  in  the  condition  in  which  it 
was  in  the  time  of  Goethe  and  Schiller?" 

"Of  course,  that  is  the  reason,"  Professor  von  Har- 
nack  answered.  "If  they  could  destroy  the  Imperial 
government,  they  would  destroy  Germany's  industrial 
and  commercial  system;  they  would  take  away  the 
livelihood  of  millions  of  the  German  people.  Ask  any 
manufacturer  or  working  man  about  that." 

"So,  then,"  I  followed  up,  "is  that  the  reason  for 
the  general  objection  to  the  Imperial  Germany  of  to- 
day ?  Is  that  the  reason  why  we  are  told  that  the  Im- 
perial government  must  be  destroyed  ?" 

"Yes;  but  it  can  not  be  destroyed,"  Professor  von 
Harnack  responded  with  much  positiveness.  "Sup- 
pose the  impossible  thought — that  our  enemies  should 
win,  and,  as  terms  of  peace,  overthrow  the  central,  Im- 
perial government.  I  tell  you  that  in  less  than  one 
year  the  German  people,  by  themselves  and  of  them- 
selves, would  come  together  again  in  this  same  govern- 
ment and  with  our  Emperor  once  more  at  its  head." 

"Is  it,  then,  with  you  Germans,  as  it  is  with  us  in 
the  United  States  where  we  are  fond  of  saying:  'No 
north,  no  south,  no  east,  no  west;  but  only  one 
nation  ?'  "  I  asked. 

"Exactly  that,"  he  answered.  "That  is  what  we 
say  too.  No  Prussia,  no  Bavaria,  no  Saxony,  or 
rather  all  together  as  just  the  German  people." 

"Your  Excellency  said  that  German  defeat  is  un- 
thinkable. Forgive  me  if  I  ask  whether  this  is  not 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  173 

putting  it  a  little  strong?  It  is  at  least  thinkable,  is 
it  not  ?"  I  inquired. 

"It  is  not  thinkable,  rationally,"  he  answered.  "Con- 
sider the  nature  of  the  combination  opposing  us,  not 
only  in  their  differences  in  government  and  ideals,  but 
also  ethnologically.  Against  this,  put  the  great  fact, 
seldom  if  ever  seen  before  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
of  a  nation  of  more  than  sixty-five  millions  of  people, 
of  one  tongue,  one  origin,  one  ideal,  one  purpose,  act- 
ing as  an  unit,  ready  and  glad  to  die  or  win." 

"Is  it  so  ultimate  and  final  as  that?"  I  broke  in. 

"It  is,  indeed,"  answered  Professor  von  Harnack. 
"Stay  in  Germany  as  long  as  you  like ;  search  as  widely 
as  you  will,  and  you  will  not  find  one  man  or  woman 
who  is  not  eager  to  give  all  and  do  all,  no  matter  what, 
if  it  will  win  the  victory  for  Germany." 

When,  afterwards,  I  learned  what  it  meant  for  Pro- 
fessor von  Harnack  to  say  this,  in  view  of  the  loss  his 
family  had  sustained  during  the  war,  it  gave  this  sen- 
tence of  the  eminent  German  thinker  a  power  and  a 
meaning  which  can  not  be  expressed  in  words. 

"I  once  thought  that  the  real  basis  of  German  char- 
acter and  mind  was  poetical,  thoughtful,  dreaming,  a 
little  bit  mystical,"  I  suggested.  "But  many  Americans 
now  believe  that  these  qualities  have  been  overcome  by 
Germany's  intensive  industrial  development,  and  by 
her  hard  and  fast  military  system." 

"They  believe  wrongly,  then,"  asserted  Professor 
von  Harnack.  "The  Germans  are  what  you  have  said : 
poetic,  thoughtful,  metaphysical.  They  do  not  want  to 
fight  unless  they  must.  Also,  commerce  and  systematic 
business  are  not  natural  to  them ;  and  they  force  them- 


174     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

selves  to  it  as  a  means  of  getting  a  livelihood;  but  the 
real  basis  of  their  character  is  always  there.  It  has 
been  manifesting  itself  very  much  of  recent  years.  For 
example,  many  of  our  most  prominent  business  men 
are  writers  on  metaphysical  subjects.  The  whole  nation 
cares  more  for  culture  than  commerce." 

"The  German  word  'Kultur'  is  not  at  all  understood 
in  America,"  I  observed.  "Even  informed  men  think 
it  means  a  rigid  proficiency  that  leaves  out  of  consider- 
ation the  higher  things.  But  the  other  day,  one  of  Ger- 
many's leading  business  men  said  to  me  that,  whereas 
civilization  has  to  do  with  material  things  of  life,  'Kul- 
tur*  has  to  do  with  the  soul  and  the  spirit.  I  got  the 
idea  from  him  that,  in  German  thought,  'Kultur'  means 
the  development  of  the  spiritual  life,  the  striving  for  a 
higher  existence." 

"You  have  said  it  from  my  heart!"  answered  Pro- 
fessor von  Harnack. 

"But,"  I  remarked,  "Americans  will  say  that  this  is 
too  general,  and  that  Germans  have  no  monopoly  of 
aspiration  toward  better  things.  So  may  I  ask  Your 
Excellency  to  explain,  specifically,  what  Germans  mean 
by  their  word  'Kultur'  ?" 

"I  shall  try  to  do  so,"  answered  Professor  von  Har- 
nack. 

"By  'Kultur'  we  mean  three  attitudes  or  aspirations 
of  the  mind  and  heart. 

"First,  thoroughness ;  the  wish  and  will  to  get  to  the 
bottom  of  anything. 

"Second,  altruism — the  opposite  of  selfishness.  Mat- 
thew XXV  explains  what  I  mean.  We  wish  to  form  an 
union,  wide  as  human  life  and  deep  as  human  misery. 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  175 

"Third,  the  wish  to  see  all  temporal  things  in  an 
eternal  light ;  the  desire  to  connect  all  our  thought  and 
action  with  the  Everlasting;  the  purpose  and  prayer 
to  be  co-workers  with  God  in  making  ourselves  and 
our  fellow  men  better  and  happier. 

"All  of  this  is  what  we  mean  by  German  'Kultur.' 
We  have  not  reached  it,  but  we  strive  for  it  in  all  hu- 
mility." 

"Is  it  the  altruism  in  your  'Kultur'  that  is  the  source 
of  Germany's  humanitarian  laws,  such  as  old  age  pen- 
sions, industrial  insurance,  and  others?" 

"Yes,  they  are  the  product  of  the  altruistic  philoso- 
phy which  is  a  vital  part  of  German  'Kultur.' ' 

"And  yet,  we  in  America  have  been  told  that  the 
philosophy  of  Nietzsche  is  the  ruling  spirit  of  Ger- 
many." 

"How  can  that  be?"  answered  Professor  von  Har- 
nack,  "with  all  the  laws  we  have  passed  and  the  things 
we  have  done  to  help  the  weak  and  succor  the  unfor- 
tunate; with  all  our  practical  achievements  to  make 
human  sympathy  real ;  with  our  working  out  in  actual 
life  of  the  ideal  of  brotherhood  ?  I  do  not  say  it  in  criti- 
cism ;  but  is  not  the  American  individualistic  idea  more 
the  philosophy  of  Nietzsche  than  our  German  commu- 
nity ideal  and  practice  ?" 

"But,"  I  remarked,  "is  not  Nietzsche  widely  read  in 
Germany  ?" 

"No,  not  widely  now.  Many  do  still  read  Nietzsche, 
but  only  as  a  poet,  not  as  a  philosopher,"  Professor  von 
Harnack  patiently  explained. 

"I  have  been  much  impressed,  Your  Excellency,  with 
the  religious  wave  which  I  am  told  began  to  rise  in 


Germany  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  and  has 
grown  stronger,  as  the  war  has  gone  on.  What  con- 
nection has  this  religious  movement  with  this  great 
conflict  ?  Was  it  because  of  an  instinct  that  a  war  was 
coming?"  I  inquired. 

"Not  at  all,"  said  Professor  von  Harnack.  "There 
was  a  period  of  years  during  which  interest  in  religion 
seemed  to  decline  among  a  large  part  of  our  people. 
But  as  I  have  said,  one  of  the  basic  elements  of  the 
German  character  is  the  spiritual  and  the  religious.  So, 
in  the  last  few  years,  a  new  interest  in  religion  has  been 
showing  itself;  it  has  been  growing  and  spreading.  It 
began,  perhaps,  with  the  upper  classes,  and  then 
showed  itself  among  all  classes.  The  present  great  re- 
ligious thought  and  feeling  among  the  German  people 
is  only  the  flowering  out  of  this  steady  development." 

"Who  is  responsible  for  this  hideous  conflict,  Pro- 
fessor Harnack?"  I  asked. 

"England,"  he  answered  solemnly  and  with  evident 
regret.  "But  I  say  it  without  hate  in  my  heart.  Eng- 
land is,  perhaps,  not  directly  answerable  that  the  war 
should  have  broken  out  at  this  time ;  but  when  she  saw 
that  Russia  wanted  war  now,  she  encouraged  Russia  to 
mobilize,  as  she  was  resolved  to  fight  Germany  down, 
sooner  or  later.  By  England,  I  mean  the  present  Eng- 
lish government ;  by  Russia,  the  Russian  military  party 
and  the  pan-Slavist  idea." 

The  Master  Builder  of  Germany's  Sea-Going 

Commerce 

Consider  now  the  views  of  one  of  Germany's  great- 
est business  men.  General  Director  Albert  Ballin  is  the 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  177 

genius  who  built  up  the  Hamburg-American  Line  from 
a  small  concern,  hopelessly  bankrupt,  to  the  largest 
steamship  company  in  the  world.  In  Germany  he  is 
considered  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  very  first, 
constructive  business  mind  in  Europe.  There  are  Ger- 
mans who  say  that,  as  a  commercial  organizer,  he  is 
unequalled  by  any  living  man  in  any  country. 

General  Director  Ballin  is  the  direct  antithesis  of 
Professor  von  Harnack;  he  devotes  his  large  ability  to 
purely  practical  business  and  he  is  an  Hebrew — yet  his 
patriotism  is  as  intense  and  self-sacrificing  as  is  that 
of  the  purely  Teutonic  thinker  and  divine. 

General  Director  Ballin  is  now  giving  all  his  energy 
to  the  organization  of  Germany's  food  production  and 
distribution. 

"I  never  worked  so  hard  in  my  life,  not  even  when 
I  was  a  young  man,"  said  Director  Ballin ;  "and  I  never 
worked  so  gladly." 

"I  am  trying  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  this  war,"  I  re- 
marked. "We  Americans  want  to  know  the  real  cause 
of  it,  and  who  began  it." 

"Well,"  answered  General  Director  Ballin,  "if  you 
put  aside  the  incidents  and  get  down  to  the  first  cause, 
you  will  find  that  it  was  commercial  rivalry,  and  at 
bottom  England  began  it.  She  could  have  prevented  it. 
Russia  never  would  have  gone  on  if  she  had  not  been 
sure  about  England;  even  at  the  last,  England  could 
have  ended  the  whole  thing  without  war.  But  she  did 
not  want  to  do  it,  and  she  did  not  do  it.  We  hold  her 
responsible;  and  she  is  responsible." 

"I  can  not  understand,"  I  observed,  "why  England 
should  have  wanted  such  a  war  as  this." 


178     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"She  was  not  farsighted,"  answered  Director  Ballin, 
"and  she  miscalculated.  England  was  sure  that  with 
her  aid,  Russia  and  France  would  overwhelm  Germany 
very  quickly.  England  thought  that  the  combination  of 
allies  which  she  had  arranged  would  bring  us  to  our 
knees  very  soon,  and  that  then  she  could  dictate  the 
terms  of  peace.  But  she  had  no  idea  of  the  strength  of 
the  German  people." 

"But  what  was  her  reason?"  I  pressed. 

"She  wished  to  break  down  her  greatest  commercial 
rival.  We  work  harder,  longer  and  more  scientifically 
than  the  English.  A  long  monopoly  of  the  world's 
markets  made  them  too  rich.  Compared  with  the  Ger- 
mans, they  are  idle — all  of  us  Germans,  rich  and  poor 
alike,  work  every  day  and  at  long  hours  every  day.  The 
result  was  that  we  were  dividing  the  world's  markets 
with  England,  and,  indeed,  taking  her  markets  from 
her.  That  is  the  real  cause  of  England's  action." 

"But  how  could  she  help  that  by  beating  you  in 
war?"  I  asked. 

"In  many  ways;  breaking  up  our  commercial  con- 
nections over  the  world  would  be  one  way,"  said  Herr 
Ballin. 

"But  that  would  mean  a  long  war,"  I  observed.  "A 
quick  victory  over  Germany  would  not  break  up  your 
foreign  trade,  seriously.  You  could  recover  it  very 
quickly.  Nothing  but  a  long  war,  a  war  for  years  could 
root  out  your  commercial  connections  in  other  coun- 
tries, so  that  you  would  have  to  begin  all  over  again, 
and  start  where  you  started  forty  years  ago.  Do  you 
think  that  it  will  be  a  long  war  ?" 

"I  hardly  think  Russia  and  France  will  care  to  go  to 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  179 

such  lengths.  Still,  it  may  be  a  long  war — a  very  long 
war,"  responded  Herr  Ballin. 

"Frankly,  how  long  can  Germany  keep  up  the  war  ?" 
I  ventured  to  inquire. 

"We  can  keep  it  up  for  years,  and  we  shall  if  neces- 
sary," said  Herr  Ballin.  "We  know  that  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  existence  with  us.  I  suppose  you  have  heard 
that  statement  before;  but  it  is  true." 

"Have  you  the  requisite  resources?"  I  asked. 

"Why,  yes,"  quickly  replied  Herr  Ballin,  with  em- 
phasis. "Have  you  not  seen  that  already  ?  Financially 
we  are  in  wonderful  condition.  Take  the  question  of 
food.  Have  you  seen  any  lack  of  it?" 

"Why,  then,  your  new  food  law?"  I  inquired. 

"That  is  the  best  proof  of  all,"  answered  Herr  Bal- 
lin. "We  have  more  than  enough  for  this  year  without 
any  law.  But  we  are  looking  out  for  next  year  and  the 
year  after  that  and  the  year  after  that." 

"But  America  thinks  you  do  not  have  enough  cop- 
per." 

"We  have  large  quantities  of  copper,"  declared  Di- 
rector Ballin.  "We  have  not  even  touched  our  extra 
copper.  Just  take  one  item.  If  worst  came  to  worst, 
the  wires  on  our  electric  street-car  lines  alone  would 
give  us  120,000  tons  of  copper,  which  is  more  than 
enough  for  one  year.  We  could  easily  replace  them 
with  iron  wires.  But  that  would  only  be  an  emergency 
which  is  not  yet  in  sight.  Then  we  could  take  the  cop- 
per roofs  of  houses.  And  with  both  of  these  used  up, 
we  still  would  have  left  from  other  sources  many  times 
the  quantity  of  copper  yielded  by  both  these  sources. 

"But  without  touching  even  our  electric  street-car 


180     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

wires,  we  have  enough  copper  to  last  for  a  very  long 
time.  And  if  we  had  to  use  all  the  copper  of  every 
kind,  for  the  purposes  of  war,  which  is  now  in  use 
in  Germany,  in  other  forms,  we  could  carry  the  war 
on  almost  indefinitely." 

"And  oil?  We  in  America  think  you  are  short  of 
oil.  Is  not  Galicia  your  chief  natural  supply  of  oil 
in  such  a  war  as  this,  and  was  it  not  for  that  reason 
that  Russia  made  the  drive  on  Galicia?"  I  inquired. 

"It  may  have  been;  I  do  not  know.  But  the  oil 
question  does  not  trouble  us,"  Herr  Ballin  asserted. 
"We  are  making  a  substitute  for  benzine ;  wood  alcohol 
is  another  excellent  substitute ;  and  there  are  still  oth- 
ers. Besides  we  have  plenty  of  oil  and  are  getting 
more." 

"Is  it  not  rather  wasteful  to  use  your  oil  on  taxi- 
cabs  and  automobiles?  I  notice  the  usual  number  of 
taxicabs  in  Berlin,  Hamburg  and  every  other  city.  Is 
not  that  a  great  waste  of  oil?" 

"Oh,"  said  Herr  Ballin,  "those  taxicabs  are  run  by 
alcohol.  That  is  a  good  example  of  why  we  are  not 
troubled  about  oil." 

"But  getting  back  to  how  England  can  hurt  you 
commercially  by  war;  while  she  might  break  up  your 
commerce  by  a  long-drawn-out  conflict,  she  could  not 
do  that  by  a  quick  victory  which  you  said  she  thought 
she  would  have,"  I  remarked. 

"Oh,  yes,"  answered  Herr  Ballin,  "if  she  could 
make  terms  of  peace  she  could  do  anything  she  liked. 
She  could  limit  the  size  of  our  ships.  She  could  put 
a  war  indemnity  on  us  so  heavy  as  to  break  us.  Worst 
of  all,  she  could  require  the  dismemberment  of  our 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  181 

Imperial  government — that  is,  our  central  govern- 
ment." 

"I  have  heard  that  before,"  I  observed.  "I 
have  been  told  that  Germany's  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic development — her  management  of  railway 
rates,  trusts,  tariffs  and  all  the  elements  of  Germany's 
economic  progress,  has  been  possible  only  by  reason 
of  your  central  government;  and  that  it  could  not 
have  been  accomplished  in  the  divided  condition  that 
existed  before  the  central  Imperial  government  was 
established,  and  would  be  ended  if  the  central  govern- 
ment were  overthrown  and  the  old  condition  restored." 

"That  is  exactly  true,"  answered  Herr  Ballin ;  "and 
that  is  exactly  what  England  would  have  required  had 
she  won.  At  least  I  think  so." 

"Is  that  what  is  meant,  then,  by  the  talk  about  lov- 
ing the  German  people,  the  Germany  of  Goethe  and 
Schiller,  but  hating  this  Imperial  government  with  its 
militarism?" 

"Why,  of  course  it  is!" 

"Most  of  the  talk  I  have  heard,  whether  at  the 
front  in  France,  or  in  a  village  in  the  heart  of  Ger- 
many, always  goes  back  to  what  you  said — the  neces- 
sity of  Germany's  getting  her  goods  to  market,  and 
England's  wanting  to  prevent  her  from  doing  so;  at 
least  business  men  and  working  men,  whom  I  find  very 
well  informed  indeed,  reason  it  out  that  way.  The 
Hamburg-American  line  is  the  center  of  Germany's 
shipping  activities — how  far  is  it  willing  to  go;  how 
far  are  you  willing  to  go?"  I  asked. 

"To  the  very  end;  to  the  last  ship,"  exclaimed  the 
great  shipping  magnate.  "As  for  myself,  I  am  willing 


182     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

and  prepared  to  come  out  of  this  a  poor  man,  if  neces- 
sary. I  should  be  happy  to  do  so  if  that  would  help 
Germany  to  win,  as  she  will." 

"Americans  do  not  understand  how  you  can  win. 
After  weeks  in  Germany  it  is  hard  for  me  to  grasp 
this  seemingly  unanimous  faith  of  the  German  people 
in  victory.  Do  you  really  think,  yourself,  that  Ger- 
many will  win?  You  may  speak  to  me  in  frankness 
and  confidence.  I  give  you  my  word  that  I  will  not 
repeat  your  answer  if  you  do  not  wish  me  to,"  said  I. 

"Yes,  I  believe  we  shall  win,"  replied  Herr  Ballin. 
"I  know  we  will  win.  I  do  not  think  it,  I  know  it. 
And  you  may  repeat  it  as  much  as  you  like.  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt  on  that  point." 

"In  the  United  States  there  are  those  who  fear  that 
Germany  intends  to  violate  our  Monroe  Doctrine  by 
occupying  parts  of  South  America." 

"That,  of  course,  is  sheer  nonsense.  We  want  to 
trade  in  South  America  as  we  are  doing  now;  and 
every  place  else.  But  nothing  more." 

"But  it  is  said  that  your  idea  is  to  get  possessions 
all  over  the  world." 

"The  facts  are  the  best  answer  to  that,"  said  Herr 
Ballin.  "Since  1870  France  has  built  up  a  great  co- 
lonial empire — Algiers,  Tunis,  for  example.  What 
have  we  got?  A  part  of  east  Africa  and  southwest 
Africa,  and  the  Kiouw  Chow  experiment.  That  is  all." 

"But  Belgium;  will  you  keep  Belgium?" 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Herr  Ballin;  "but  personally 
I  hope  so.  But  the  main  thing  we  do  want  is  such  a 
peace  as  will  leave  us  alone  to  work  and  trade  without 
interference." 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  183 

"Speaking  of  Belgium,  your  violation  of  her  neu- 
trality was  one  cause  of  America's  unfavorable  public 
opinion  toward  Germany.  Do  the  business  men  of 
Germany  approve  the  attack  on  Belgium?"  I  inquired. 

"Belgium  had  a  treaty  with  Germany  as  well  as 
with  France  and  England ;  yet  she  made  a  secret  agree- 
ment with  France  and  England  in  violation  of  her 
treaty  with  Germany,"  asserted  the  General  Director. 
"She  destroyed  her  own  neutrality.  We  have  proved 
this  to  the  world  now,  and  nobody  has  denied  it.  We 
have  still  more  proof.  One  single  circumstance  ought 
to  satisfy  anybody — I  mean  the  large  stores  of  English 
war  material  which  we  found  in  Maubeuge.  That  is 
only  one  example  of  many  that  the  agreement  was  be- 
ing carried  through.  But  besides  these  examples  we 
have  the  documentary  proof;  and  as  I  say,  it  is  not 
denied.  Answering  your  question  directly,  German 
business  men  heartily  approve  our  advance  through 
Belgium  under  the  circumstances. 

"This  suggests  to  me  the  food  question  again,"  con- 
tinued Herr  Ballin.  "We  are  righting  this  war  in  the 
enemy's  country — in  France  on  one  side  and  in  Rus- 
sian Poland  on  the  other  side.  So  the  country  we  oc- 
cupy, especially  in  the  west,  is  furnishing  a  good  deal 
of  the  food  consumed  by  our  armies.  This  is  not  an 
important  item,  for  we  have  enough  food  within  Ger- 
many itself.  And  yet,  it  is  important,  too,  when  you 
think  that  we  already  have  nearly  700,000  prisoners  in 
Germany,  whom  we  must  feed,  and  are  feeding  very 
well  indeed."* 

*This  conversation  occurred  January  28.  1915. 


"Does  the  fact  that  you  are  fighting  the  war  in 
France  and  Russian  Poland  have  anything  to  do  with 
your  belief,  your  confidence  that  Germany  will  win?" 
I  asked. 

"Yes,  of  course.  They  never  can  drive  us  back  to 
the  German  frontier  and  carry  the  war  into  Germany. 
That  ought  to  be  plain  to  anybody.  But  that  is  not  the 
chief  reason  for  our  certainty  of  winning.  The  spirit 
of  the  people;  their  absolute  unity;  the  feeling  of  all  of 
us  that  it  is  life  or  death  with  us;  the  willingness  of 
every  German,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  man  and 
woman,  to  go  to  the  end,  even  to  poverty  and  death 
itself;  the  superiority  of  our  men  in  the  field,  both  offi- 
cers and  men — things  like  these  are  what  make  us 
know  that  we  shall  win  in  the  end." 

"But,  will  the  women  of  Germany  consent  to  allow 
the  war  to  go  to  such  lengths?"  I  asked. 

"The  women  of  Germany  are  as  strong  for  the  war 
as  any  man  in  the  country,"  declared  Herr  Ballin.  "I 
can  give  you  dozens  of  examples,  within  my  own  per- 
sonal knowledge.  Here  is  one,  which  came  to  my  at- 
tention only  yesterday.  A  friend  of  mine,  a  lady  of 
wealth,  who  already  has  four  sons  at  the  front;  her 
fifth  son  is  in  America  and  has  not  been  able  to  get 
back.  The  mother  is  grieving  because  this  fifth  son 
has  not  been  able  to  get  to  the  front  also,  to  fight  for 
Germany.  You  can  write  a  book  of  examples  of  this 
spirit  among  the  German  women.  They  are  our  strong- 
est support.  I  suggest  that  you  talk  to  German  women 
yourself.  You  will  find  there  the  best  proof  of  the 
spirit  that  animates  Germany  in  this  war." 


GERMAN    THOUGHT  185 

A  Typical  Young  German  Business  Man 

Let  us  go  now  to  the  younger  German  business  men. 
Walter  Rathenau,  President  of  the  General  Electric 
Company  of  Germany,  one  of  the  largest  corporations 
and  employers  of  labor  in  Europe,  is  typical  of  these; 
for  not  only  is  he  prominent  in  the  management  of  one 
of  Europe's  greatest  business  concerns,  but  also  is  the 
author  of  books  and  brochures  on  metaphysical  and 
philosophical  subjects;  and  this  combination  of  specu- 
lative learning  and  practical  efficiency  is  a  character- 
istic of  the  new  generation  that  is  occupying  the  field 
of  German  business.  Doctor  Rathenau  is  now  giving 
all  of  his  time  to  the  war  department,  and  is  the  head 
of  a  group  of  one  hundred  fifty  scientists  working  un- 
der his  direction. 

"In  considering  the  causes  of  the  war,"  said  Doctor 
Rathenau,  "we  must  distinguish  between  the  pow- 
der and  the  match.  The  match  that  fired  the  powder 
was  Russia.  But  the  powder  was  the  inevitable  con- 
flict between  England  and  Germany.  On  the  surface 
this  is  a  mere  struggle  for  commercial  monopoly  on 
England's  part.  But  deeper  down,  it  is  a  struggle 
between  two  conceptions  of  life  and  duty. 

"Let  me  illustrate.  Take  the  chemical  industry. 
Let  us  say  that  there  are  five  thousand  scientists  in 
Germany,  each  glad  to  work  for  one  hundred  fifty 
dollars  a  month,  but  not  merely  for  the  money.  That 
is  only  an  incidental  reward — just  a  livelihood.  Their 
real  reward  is  their  passion  to  discover  Nature's  truths. 
Also,  there  comes  in  the  element  of  their  conception  of 


186     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

duty.  They  not  only  are  satisfying  themselves  by  do- 
ing, for  its  own  sake,  what  they  love  best  to  do,  but 
also  they  feel  that  they  are  helping  to  build  up  Ger- 
many, and  in  a  broader  way,  to  increase  the  sum  of 
human  knowledge.  There  you  have  the  real  motive  that 
inspires  these  five  thousand  scientists. 

"On  the  other  hand,  there  are  in  England,  let  us  say, 
thirty  scientists  of  the  same  ability  and  skill.  But  they 
must  be  professors  in  Oxford,  Cambridge,  or  other 
schools  of  learning.  They  would  scorn  such  employ- 
ment, such  work  as  our  five  thousand  German  scien- 
tists do  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  month. 
The  German's  principal  pay — the  pleasure  he  gets 
from  investigating  Nature's  mysteries,  and  his  ideal 
of  duty — does  not  appeal  to  his  brother  English  scien- 
tist at  all. 

"It  is  not  generally  known  or  believed,  but  it  is  true, 
that  most  of  the  discoveries  made  by  our  scientists, 
which  we  apply  in  advancing  our  industry,  are  by- 
products of  these  scientists'  general  work.  So  there 
is  one  illustration  of  our  industrial  superiority,  grow- 
ing out  of  an  ideal  of  life  and  duty.  To  this  ideal, 
the  Englishman  is  a  stranger. 

"Again,  among  us  Germans  the  love  of  knowledge  is 
a  part  of  the  German  character.  We  feel  that  we  can 
not  have  too  much  of  it.  To  make  it  plainer,  let  me 
say  that  in  Germany  it  is  fashionable  to  be  informed. 
In  England,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  felt  that  it  is  ungen- 
tlemanly  to  acquire  more  knowledge  after  a  certain 
point  of  education.  The  Englishmen  say  that  they  do 
not  like  'walking  dictionaries.' 

"Again,  bring  in  the  idea  of  duty  to  one's  country. 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  187, 

"Now,  apply  this  to  employees  of  an  industry;  say, 
an  industrial  company  of  thirty  thousand  employees,  or 
of  an  hundred  thousand  employees;  or  a  great  bank 
with  ten  thousand  employees,  willing  to  work  ten  hours 
a  day  and  always  searching  for  knowledge.  They 
work  not  for  food  only,  but  also  as  a  duty  for  the 
building  up  of  Germany. 

"Contrast  with  this  concept  of  life  and  labor  the 
conception  of  the  same  class  of  men  in  England;  as 
little  work  as  possible ;  no  more  knowledge  than  abso- 
lutely necessary;  vacations,  luxuries,  and  the  mental 
and  physical  habits  growing  out  of  these. 

"In  the  final  analysis,  these  illustrations  show  you 
why  Germany  has  been  able  to  sell  her  products  in  for- 
eign markets  which  England  had  monopolized  so  long 
that  she  thought  they  belonged  to  her  as  a  matter 
of  right. 

"So,  you  see,  the  conflict  was  inevitable,  and  the 
basis  of  it  is  a  difference  in  fundamental  ideals  of  life 
and  duty.  That  is  the  deep  reason  why  the  war  must 
go  on  until  it  is  proved  which  of  these  ideals  is  the  true 
one.  It  is  why  we  Germans  are  willing  to  die,  and 
suffer  worse  than  death,  in  order  to  win.  For  not  only 
is  our  ability  to  live  physically  at  stake,  but  our  whole 
concept  of  life  is  involved." 

"Then,"  said  I,  "do  you  think  it  will  be  a  long  war?" 

"I  do,"  answered  Doctor  Rathenau.  "Speaking  for 
myself,  I  personally  think  the  war  will  last  for  years. 
The  very  concept  of  German  civilization  is  involved. 
Our  culture,  which  combines  our  ideals,  and  which  is 
the  dearest  of  all  things  to  us,  is  at  stake." 

"I  fear  that  the  German  word  'Kultur'  is  not  under- 


188     WHAT   IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

stood  in  America,"  I  remarked.  "Would  you  be  kind 
enough  to  explain  it?" 

"I  already  have  stated  part  of  it,"  exclaimed  Doctor 
Rathenau,  "the  love  of,  the  search  for  the  truth,  in  all 
the  fields  of  knowledge;  the  wish  to  make  that  search 
final  and  complete;  the  reward  for  work  in  the  doing 
of  the  work  well ;  the  idea  of  duty  to  the  community  or 
nation,  as  an  element  in  all  labor,  mental  or  physical. 
These  are  a  part  of  German  'Kultur.' 

"The  ideal  of  mutual  helpfulness  is  an  even  more 
important  part — the  concept  that  our  neighbors  and  co- 
workers  and  fellow  countrymen  shall  be  benefited  by 
the  work  of  each  individual.  One  result  of  this  is  Ger- 
many's humanitarian  laws  to  aid  the  weak,  the  aged, 
the  unfortunate.  These  laws  are  a  direct  outgrowth  of 
one  ideal  embraced  in  the  German  word  'Kultur.' 

"And,  finally,  the  concept  that  all  we  do  and  think 
is  related  to  all  time,  and  that  our  work  lives  on,  and 
will  be  for  the  good  of  future  generations;  these  are 
some  of  the  main  ideals  embraced  in  our  German 
'Kultur.' 

"It  all  grows  out  of  German  character,  the  funda- 
mental nature  of  which  is  philosophical,  poetic,  altru- 
istic. 

"Add  to  all  this,  industry,  and  you  have  the  moving 
causes  for  the  economic  progress  which  has  marked 
Germany  the  last  few  decades. 

"At  another  period,  this  basic  German  character 
showed  itself  in  music,  metaphysics,  poetry.  The  eco- 
nomic pressure  of  a  population  which  has  grown  to  be 
enormous  turned  this,  in  our  times,  to  industrial  evo- 
lution. 


GERMAN    THOUGHT  189 

"There  are  nearly  70,000,000  of  us  Germans  living 
in  a  country  smaller  than  some  of  your  states.  Our 
country  has  a  comparatively  poor  soil — indeed  it  is  not 
rich  in  any  mere  physical  resource.  It  has  the  poorest 
location  imaginable.  And  it  is  surrounded  by  enemies. 
It  has  been  Europe's  battlefield  for  centuries. 

"Yet  in  spite  of  all  this  we  have  built  up  an  industry 
unequaled  in  the  world;  and  by  applying  our  ideals 
of  'Kultur'  our  dense  population  have  made  themselves 
happy  and  contented  as  well  as  prosperous.  But  just 
because  in  doing  this  we  have  dared  to  compete  suc- 
cessfully with  England  in  the  world's  markets  England 
says  that  we  must  be  crushed,  and  destroyed,  or  else 
totally  disabled ! 

"It  is  not  to  be  borne !"  exclaimed  Doctor  Rathenau. 
"No  sacrifice  is  too  high  or  dear  for  us  to  make,  to 
preserve  our  civilization  and  our  'Kultur.' ' 

"But  can  you  win?"  I  asked. 

"We  can  and  will.  I  have  not  a  doubt  of  our  suc- 
cess," quickly  responded  Doctor  Rathenau. 

I  asked  about  militarism. 

"Of  course,"  replied  Doctor  Rathenau,  "what  Eng- 
land is  trying  to  make  the  world  believe  by  the  word 
'militarism'  simply  does  not  exist  in  Germany.  Our 
people  are  our  army  and  our  army  is  our  people.  Our 
history  has  taught  us  that  we  dare  not  be  without  an 
army.  All  other  countries,  I  believe,  have  armies.  If, 
then,  we  must  have  an  army,  we  wish  it  to  be  the  best 
possible.  We  have  tried  to  make  it  such,  exactly  as  we 
have  tried  to  make  our  industry  and  science  the  best 
possible.  It  is  because  we  have  succeeded  in  this  as  in 
other  things  that  our  enemies  cry  'militarism!'  Yet 


190     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE    WAR 

nobody  attacks  our  enemies  because  each  of  them  has  a 
military  or  naval  establishment !" 

"But  Bernhardi's  book  is  represented  to  us  as  the 
German  ideal  ?" 

"Whoever  told  you  that  wronged  you  and  us  alike. 
Bernhardi's  military  book  was  practically  unknown  in 
Germany  before  the  war.  Most  Germans  heard  of  it 
then,  for  the  first  time,  through  the  English  advertise- 
ments of  it  as  our  great  classic.  You  will  not  find 
one  German  in  ten  thousand  who  has  read  it  or  even 
heard  of  it  before  the  war.  Do  you  Americans  think 
such  misrepresentations  of  a  friendly  nation  right  or 
moral?" 

"It  is  thought,"  I  suggested,  "that  the  German  mili- 
tary and  naval  establishment  is  aggressive  and  threat- 
ens the  peace  of  the  world." 

"In  view  of  the  fact,"  said  Doctor  Rathenau,  "that 
Germany  has  kept  peace  for  nearly  fifty  years  and  un- 
der great  provocation,  this  charge  seems  hardly  fair. 
We  have  had  no  war  for  almost  half  a  century;  every 
one  of  our  enemies  has  had  several  wars  in  that  period 
— and  some  of  them  have  been  serious.  What  the 
English  call  our  'militarism'  is  not  militarism  at  all ;  it 
is  merely  a  people  prepared  to  defend  itself.  And  as 
such,  it  is  not  only  a  good  thing;  it  is  a  necessary 
thing." 

"Do  you  think  that  a  wider  range  of  popular  gov- 
ernment is  approaching  for  Germany?"  I  asked. 

"Probably;  but  we  shall  not  go  so  far  as  you  have 
gone  in  America ;  nor  as  England  has  gone.  You  have 
gone  too  far.  That  will  be  one  of  the  results  of  the 
war.  We  shall  pick  up  our  foreign  commerce  again 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  191 

soon  enough.  It  is  founded  on  a  real  superiority 
which  can  not  be  destroyed.  We  shall  emerge  from 
the  war  a  poorer  but  a  stronger  people,  a  nobler  and  a 
more  unified  Germany. 

"Remember  that  you  in  America  will  grow  rich  and 
richer.  But  I  am  not  sure  it  will  be  good  for  you. 
Here,  we  shall  not  grow  rich  so  rapidly.  But  we  shall 
find  happiness  the  more  surely." 


VIII 

GERMAN  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR  -  II* 

The  Leader  of  German  Socialism  and  a  German 
Trades  Union  Official 


are  more  than  2,000,000  working  men 
now  at  the  front;  of  these  more  than  1,500,000 
are  Socialists,"  said  Doctor  Albert  Siidekum,  leader  of 
the  Social  Democratic  party  in  Germany. 

"Yes,"  spoke  up  Albert  Baumeister,  Assistant  Sec- 
retary of  the  International  Federation  of  Trades 
Unions,  "and  among  them  large  numbers  are  volun- 
teers." 

"Volunteers  !"  I  exclaimed. 

"Yes;  volunteers,"  repeated  Mr.  Baumeister. 
"When  this  war  came  upon  us,  more  than  2,500,000 
men,  not  called  to  the  colors,  volunteered.  So  heavy 
was  the  pressure  of  these  men  to  be  taken,  that  scores 
of  thousands  liable  for  service  and  notified  to  report 
were  left  behind.  For  example,  I  myself  am  one  of 
these.  I  belong  to  the  naval  branch  and,  in  obedience 
to  instructions,  reported  at  Kiel.  But  there  I  found 
more  than  40,000  volunteers  clamoring  to  be  accepted. 
So  here  I  am  still  waiting.  And  there  are  thousands 
like  me." 


*  These  conversations  took  place  during  January,  1915. 

192 


GERMAN    THOUGHT  193 

We  were  dining  and  spending  the  evening  in  talk  in 
the  big  eating  room  of  the  Gewerkschaftshaus — that  is, 
the  Working  Men's  House — the  labor  center  of  Berlin. 
A  good  orchestra  played  classical  music.  The  meal  for 
three  men  cost  a  little  less  than  five  marks,  or  about  a 
dollar  ten  cents.  One  man  ordered  rabbit  pot-pie,  the 
other  two  had  large,  thick  pork  steaks,  and  all  three 
had  potatoes,  beans,  peas,  cheese  and  all  the  bread  and 
butter  they  could  eat — a  fair  example  of  food  and 
prices  in  any  popular  restaurant  in  Germany. 

Both  Doctor  Siidekum  and  Mr.  Baumeister  speak 
English  perfectly.  I  had  met  Doctor  Siidekum 
through  an  American  Socialist  of  native  American 
stock,  who  happened  to  be  in  Berlin  for  a  short  time, 
and  whom  I  chanced  to  meet  on  the  street.  Through 
Doctor  Siidekum,  I  met  Mr.  Baumeister,  and  thus 
came  the  rare  opportunity  to  get  the  radical  sentiment 
of  Germany,  and  the  view-point  of  the  German  work- 
ing man,  at  first  hand. 

Though  forty-five  years  old  and  past  military  age, 
Doctor  Siidekum,  since  the  time  of  the  conversations 
here  recorded  (January,  1915)  has  proved  his  sin- 
cerity by  enlisting  as  a  volunteer.  Because  of  his  great 
prominence  and  influence,  he  finally  was  accepted. 

Doctor  Siidekum  is  a  natural  orator  and  one  of  the 
most  attractive  and  popular  speakers  in  Germany.  He 
has  delivered  lectures  in  America,  and  is  well  known 
to  many  American  thinkers.  He  is  a  linguist,  speaking 
French,  Italian  and  other  languages,  as  well  as  English 
and  German.  Doctor  Siidekum  is  one  of  the  editors  of 
Germany's  celebrated  Municipal  Year  Book,  by  far  the 
most  complete  and  authoritative  publication  of  its  kind 


194     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

in  the  world.  Also,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Reichstag, 
representing  Niirnberg. 

"Every  man,  woman  and  child  in  Germany  is  peace 
loving ;  but  they  are,  as  things  now  stand,  for  this  war 
to  the  uttermost,"  said  this  leader  of  the  German  Social 
Democratic  party.  "All  of  them  will  sacrifice  every- 
thing, even  life,  to  win.  But  if  it  can  be  said  to  be  the 
war  of  any  one  class  more  than  another,  this  is  the  Ger- 
man working  man's  war." 

"How  can  that  be  ?"  I  inquired  in  surprise,  for  I  had 
come  from  America  with  the  impression  very  firmly 
fixed  that  German  working  men  and  especially  German 
Socialists,  were  opposing  the  war. 

"We  are  fighting  for  our  lives,"  answered  Doctor 
Siidekum.  "It  is  our  very  existence  which  is  at  stake 
in  this  war.  By  intensive  industry  we  have  furnished 
employment  to  our  millions  of  workers.  The  sale  of 
their  products  was  taking  England's  markets  from  her. 
This  was  because  we  worked  harder,  saved  better,  or- 
ganized more  carefully,  and,  by  our  spirit  of  solidarity 
and  methods  of  mutual,  cooperative  helpfulness,  cre- 
ated a  better  feeling,  more  contentment  and  a  finer 
sentiment  of  service  for  the  general  welfare. 

"In  short,  we  produced  a  better  product  by  making 
better  and  happier  workers.  The  English  were  not 
willing  to  take  the  pains  to  do  all  this ;  they  were  not 
willing  to  meet  our  honest  competition.  That  is  why 
they  are  fighting  to  destroy  modern  Germany.  And 
that  is  why  this  war  means  life  or  death  to  the  German 
people  and  especially  to  German  working  men." 

"But  how,"  I  asked,  "could  England  destroy  modern 
Germany?  In  case  of  your  defeat,  how  could  Ger- 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  195 

many's  enemies  impose  any  terms  which  would  injure 
German  working  men?" 

"In  several  ways.  If  one  were  to  judge  from  the 
English  talk  against  our  centralized,  national  govern- 
ment, its  dismemberment  would  be  one  way  of  destroy- 
ing our  industry  by  which  our  workers  live.  This  is 
probably  what  is  at  the  bottom  of  their  hypocritical 
talk  about  loving  the  German  people  and  only  hating 
German  nationalism,  which  they  want  to  destroy  in  the 
interest  of  'humanity.'  You  have  heard  that,  have  you 
not? — 'the  Germany  of  Schiller  and  Goethe!'  The 
Germany  of  Goethe  and  Schiller  could  not  have  fed 
nearly  70,000,000  of  people;  it  did  not  even  feed  the 
people  it  had  in  those  days. 

"We  have  all  that  the  world  admires  in  Goethe  and 
Schiller,  and  a  great  deal  more.  We  have  noble  ideals 
of  human  welfare,  and  we  are  working  them  out. 
Look  at  our  laws  for  the  care  and  comfort  of  the 
workers  and  the  poor.  We  have  led  the  world  in  this 
class  of  legislation,  for  the  amelioration  and  better- 
ment of  human  conditions.  What  English  reformers 
are  feebly  clamoring  for  now,  we  Germans  have  had 
for  years.  And  we  have  only  begun.  Much  more  of 
such  reforms  are  coming.  Several  have  been  adopted 
since  the  war  began.  The  Goethe  and  Schiller  Ger- 
many did  none  of  these  things. 

"Our  wonderful  economic  progress  has  been  made 
possible  only  by  and  through  the  creation  of  a  central 
government;  a  national  government,  if  you  like  that 
word  better.  We  German  Social  Democrats  want  even 
more  nationalism,  especially  more  solidarity.  Our  tariff 
management,  our  trust  management,  our  railway  man- 


196     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

agement,  and  other  elements  of  our  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial evolution,  could  not  have  been  worked  out  ex- 
cept through  a  centralized  government.  They  would 
have  been  impossible  with  the  divided  Germany  that 
existed  before  1870. 

"Forty  years  ago  we  exported  men ;  to-day  we  ex- 
port goods,  not  men.  Indeed,  our  economic  and  social 
condition  is  such  that  people  have  been  immigrating  to 
Germany,  crowded  as  it  is,  instead  of  emigrating  from 
Germany. 

"If  England  could  destroy  united  Germany,  with  its 
national  government,  under  which  our  industrial  and 
social  progress  has  been  achieved,  she  thereby  could 
destroy  most  of  our  industry,  by  which  our  workers 
live.  If  she  could  dismember  modern  Germany  and 
make  it  once  more  the  Germany  of  Goethe  and  Schil- 
ler, we  would  once  more  export  men  instead  of  goods, 
and  England  once  more  would  have  the  monopoly  of 
exporting  goods." 

"But  does  not  your  modern  centralized  government 
stand  for  militarism?"  I  asked.  "We  have  the  idea  in 
America  that  militarism  is  the  ideal  of  modern  Ger- 
many." 

"That  misstatement  also  comes  from  England,"  an- 
swered Doctor  Siidekum.  "As  they  represent  it,  it  is, 
of  course,  absurd  and  false.  The  militarism  the  Eng- 
lish talk  about  does  not  exist  in  the  form  or  with  the 
consequences  they  represent.  A  great  armed  force  is 
necessary  for  us.  You  will  see  why,  if  you  think  of 
our  location  and  history.  We  are  surrounded  by  ene- 
mies ;  we  have  been  warred  upon  and  our  country  over- 
run for  hundreds  of  years.  We  have  to  face  the  facts. 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  197 

We  can  not  have  economic  freedom  without  the  pro- 
tection of  an  armed  force.  This  armed  force  is  almost 
wholly  from  and  of  the  people.  The  people  are  the 
army. 

"The  Social  Democratic  party  of  Germany  has  al- 
ways fought  the  faults  and  defects  of  our  military 
system  and  will  do  so  in  the  future.  But  it  has  always 
stood  also  for  the  general  armament  of  the  people 
against  foreign  aggressors.  In  order  to  secure  our 
own  country  (and  at  the  same  time  general  peace)  we 
German  Social  Democrats  do  not  object  to  the  army 
itself,  only  to  its  so-called  'dark  sides' ;  so  we  fought,  for 
instance,  the  internationalism  of  war  capital,  the  inter- 
national trust  of  gun  and  powder  makers. 

"But  so  far  as  general  armament  of  the  people  is 
concerned,"  continued  Doctor  Siidekum,  "we  would 
even  broaden  the  military  service,  begin  it  earlier  and 
leave  out  nobody  who  is  fit  for  it.  As  our  system  now 
is,  only  a  part  of  our  available  men  can  be  taken  into 
the  military  service  and  have  military  training,  because 
we  have  not  money  enough.  So  we  Social  Democrats 
would  remedy  that  by  shortening  the  time  of  service 
(of  the  then  better  prepared  and  trained  men)  from 
two  years  to,  say,  one  year;  a  step  on  the  road  to 
a  real  militia,  like  the  Swiss  system.  Then  everybody 
could  be  in  the  army  in  case  of  emergency." 

"But,  has  not  Germany's  extensive  military  service 
endangered  the  peace  of  Europe?"  I  asked. 

"Nearly  half  a  century  of  peace  proves  the  con- 
trary," answered  Doctor  Siidekum.  "For  almost  fifty 
years  Germany  has  had  no  war,  except  the  small 
colonial  affair  in  southwest  Africa,  while  every  one  of 


198     WHAT   IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

the  countries  now  combined  to  crush  us — England, 
Russia,  Japan,  France — has  had  one  or  more  wars, 
some  of  them  great  and  serious,  and  nearly  all  of  them 
indefensible  from  the  view-point  of  justice,  humanity 
and  love  of  peace.  Yet  we  Germans,  who  have  been 
at  peace  and  kept  the  peace,  are  called  by  the  English, 
disturbers  of  the  peace.  Is  that  fair  or  truthful?  No !" 

"But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  has  not  Germany's  great 
military  establishment  forced  other  nations  to  follow 
suit,  and  thus  made  Europe  an  armed  camp?"  I  in- 
sisted. 

"No,  indeed!"  said  Doctor  Siidekum.  "Modern 
militarism  was  NOT  'made  in  Germany.'  Napoleon  III 
was  its  father,  and  it  was  born  in  France.  Since  1849, 
France  has  always  been  aggressive.  In  1849  she  over- 
ran the  Roman  Republic;  in  1854-56,  she  made  war 
against  Russia;  in  1859  against  Austria;  then  came  a 
Chinese  war  and  then  the  Mexican  adventure ;  finally, 
the  Franco-German  War  of  1870-71.  France,  through 
Napoleon  III,  inaugurated  the  modern  politics  of  big 
land  armies;  he  and  France  cultivated  the  worship  of 
'la  gloire.'  Prussia,  by  simple  fear  of  an  overwhelm- 
ingly strong  France,  began  to  build  up  her  modern 
army  in  1861 — and  then  it  was  anything  but  popular. 

"So  there  is  your  origin  of  modern  militarism.  It  is 
not  a  native  offspring  of  German  soil.  The  German 
military  system  is  purely  defensive.  The  German  peo- 
ple are  peace-loving  above  all  things.  Their  spirit  is 
not  that  of  conquest.  We  want  to  be  let  alone,  that  is 
all,  to  develop  our  own  industrial,  social,  economic  and 
political  progress.  It  is  for  this  we  fight  now,  and  we 
shall  fight  to  the  death." 


GERMAN    THOUGHT  199 

"But  this  is  not  what  we  understand  in  America 
from  General  Bernhardi's  book,  which  is  widely  read 
and  is  understood  to  represent  the  ideal  and  spirit  of 
modern  Germany,"  I  suggested. 

"If  Bernhardi's  book  is  widely  read  in  America,  it 
had  better  luck  in  your  country  than  it  did  in  Germany. 
Very  few  read  it  here.  It  made  no  impression  at  all. 
I  doubt  if  many  of  the  70,000,000  of  the  German  peo- 
ple know  that  Bernhardi  ever  wrote  a  book." 

"You  spoke  of  the  defects  of  your  military  system," 
I  suggested. 

"Yes,  and  it  is  these  which  we  have  fought  and  will 
fight  and  which  we  expect  to  remedy,"  said  the  bril- 
liant German  Socialist.  "What  there  is  of  'militarism' 
(exclusively  in  respect  of  officers — there  are  certainly 
'German  West  Pointers' ;  in  respect  of  the  influence  of 
the  military  service  on  private  life;  in  respect  of  a  cer- 
tain harsh  manner  in  our  state  officials,  who,  to  some 
extent,  come  from  the  army;  in  respect  of  things  like 
these)  is  a  mere  home  question  for  ourselves  and  does 
not  in  the  least  regard  the  English.  What  needs  im- 
provement we,  ourselves,  shall  improve. 

"But,"  went  on  Doctor  Siidekum,  "suppose  we  did 
have  a  'militarism'  such  as  the  English  describe — why 
should  England  make  war  on  it  any  more  than  Ger- 
many should  make  war  on  English  hypocrisy?  Why 
doesn't  England  begin  a  crusade  against  French  chau- 
vinism, or  against  Russian  pogromism? 

"If  they  say  that  this  trumped-up  German  'mili- 
tarism' is  dangerous  to  the  world,  we  answer  that  it  has 
not  done  the  outer  world  any  harm  since  1870,  the 
year  when  they  say  it  began,  whereas  English  hypoc- 


200     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

risy  has  done  the  world  more  harm  than  ever  will  be 
computed.  In  fact  this  English  scarecrow  of  German 
'militarism'  does  not  exist — unless  a  peaceful  people 
ready  to  defend  themselves  can  be  called  militarism. 

"The  very  circumstance  that  they  say  that  they 
make  war  on  German  'militarism'  shows  that  the  whole 
spirit  animating  our  enemies  is  aggressive,"  continued 
the  German  Socialist  leader.  "One  of  their  objections 
to  so-called  militarism  is  that  it  alienates  men  from 
civil  life;  this  again  reveals  their  hypocrisy;  for  in 
Germany,  military  service  is  two  years,  France  three 
years,  Japan  three  years,  Russia  three- four  years." 

"So  German  Social  Democrats  do  not  wish  to  abol- 
ish military  service?"  I  asked. 

"No;  as  I  have  said,  we  would  broaden  it  so  that 
every  physically  fit  man  might  have  the  training,  and 
purely  as  a  defensive  measure,"  answered  Doctor 
Siidekum.  "I  can  not  repeat  too  often  that  what 
we  Germans  want  is  to  be  let  alone,  in  order  to 
work  out  our  industrial,  social  and  economic  and  po- 
litical problems  for  ourselves.  That  is  the  real  pur- 
pose of  our  army;  and,  while  accomplishing  this 
purpose,  the  military  training  is  good  for  every  man 
who  has  it.  Men  are  taught  to  take  care  of  their 
health.  Also,  they  get  the  idea  of  cooperation — soli- 
darity, the  working  in  common  to  a  common  end, 
mutual  effort  for  mutual  result.  All  this — the  care  of 
the  health  and  the  other  things — make  them  more  effi- 
cient economic  beings,  better  workers,  stronger  men." 

"What  influence  has  Germany's  military  party  on 
German  policy  and  government  ?  It  is  our  understand- 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  201 

ing  in  America  that  this  military  party  is  a  controlling 
and  decisive  force,"  I  observed. 

"Such  a  thing  as  a  military  party,  as  a  political  force 
of  any  great  influence,  does  not  exist  and  is  impossible 
in  Germany,"  answered  Doctor  Siidekum.  "The  rank 
and  file  of  the  army  are  of  and  from  the  people.  Every 
home  in  Germany  has  one  or  more.  The  officers  are 
sworn  in  to  their  kings  and  princes  by  a  special  oath, 
but  are  in  fact  servants  of  the  state;  and  most  of  them 
look  at  their  duty  from  a  mere  technical  point  of  view. 
There  may  be — quite  natural! — political  feelings 
among  them  (I  personally  believe  them  to  be  mostly 
conservative)  ;  but  they  do  not  take  any  active  part  in 
politics;  and  can  not;  the  law  forbids  it.  We  would 
not  allow  it,  even  if  there  were  no  law.  There  are  so- 
called  'political  generals'  in  Germany,  but — out  of 
service." 

"What  will  be  the  outcome  of  the  war,  if  Germany 
wins?"  I  asked. 

"If  Germany  wins — and  we  shall  win — one  result 
will  be  the  making  of  a  new  international  law  for  the 
protection  of  private  property  on  the  sea  at  all  times, 
during  war  no  less  than  during  peace,"  answered  the 
German  Socialist  statesman.  "This  will  be  a  blessing 
to  the  whole  world.  It  will  do  more  in  a  practical  way 
to  remove  the  cause  of  war  than  any  one  other  single 
thing. 

"It  is  an  old  international  law  that  private  property 
on  land  is  respected  in  war.  While  every  army  has 
the  right  and  even  the  duty  to  destroy  the  enemy's  guns, 
fortresses  and  other  military  properties,  the  private 


202     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

property  of  non-combatants  (non-military  citizens) 
must  not  be  touched.  If  an  army  needs  anything,  say 
food,  it  can  take  it  only  by  paying  the  owners.  Private 
robbery  is  punished  by  our  military  courts  with  death. 

"Why  should  not  this  international  law  exist  also  on 
the  sea?"  asked  Doctor  Sudekum;  and,  continued 
he,  "the  right  of  a  belligerent  nation  to  stop  and 
search  foreign  ships ;  to  destroy  or  confiscate  war  ma- 
terials like  guns,  powder  and  so  on;  to  destroy,  after 
duly  filed  notice  to  the  world,  all  kinds  of  contraband ; 
to  stop  blockade  runners,  or  take  them  as  prizes  of  war 
— the  right  to  do  all  these  things  is  not  questioned. 

"But  what  ought  to  be  forbidden  is  the  stopping  and 
destroying  of  purely  merchant  ships,  carrying  a  thor- 
oughly innocent  cargo,  or  taking  them  as  prizes  of 
war.  Suppose  a  German  merchant  ship  is  carrying 
merchandise  from  Java  to  Seattle  which  could  not  pos- 
sibly be  used  in  war.  Why  should  that  private  ship  and 
private  property  be  seized  and  destroyed  ?  Why  should 
not  ships  of  all  countries,  which  are  private  property 
engaged  in  carrying  private  and  non-contraband  prop- 
erty, in  the  course  of  peaceful  commerce,  having  no 
connection  with  hostilities,  be  allowed  to  go  on  with 
this  peaceful  business? 

"Let  warships  fight  warships,  let  merchant  ships  be 
searched  and  contraband  or  war  munitions  confiscated 
or  destroyed ;  but  let  private  property  and  private  busi- 
ness, having  nothing  to  do  with  war,  be  respected 
on  the  sea  as  well  as  on  the  land.  In  fighting  for  this, 
Germany  fights  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  for  all 
countries,  and  the  whole  world. 

"Time  and  again,  the  Germans  and  other  European 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  203 

nations  (and  as  I  remember  the  United  States)  have 
proposed  to  extend  the  international  law  concerning 
private  property  on  land,  during  war,  to  cover  the  sea 
also,"  went  on  Dr.  Sudekum.  "This  would  mean  free- 
dom of  international  commerce,  even  in  war  time,  in- 
stead of  ruining  international  commerce  as  the  pres- 
ent system  does  ruin  it.  But  England  has  declined 
always  to  permit  this  extension  of  international  law 
to  respect  private  property  on  the  sea.  The  last  time 
England  refused  was  at  the  second  Hague  Conference. 
This  means  England's  absolute  and  unrestricted  su- 
premacy on  the  ocean. 

"This  makes  it  plain  that  the  only  international 
danger,  certainly  the  greatest  at  least,  threatening  the 
world,  is  British  'maritimism.'  The  fixed  British  policy 
of  a  navy  as  large  as  the  navies  of  any  two  other 
countries  combined,  coupled  with  Great  Britain's  re- 
fusal to  respect  private  property  at  sea,  or  to  permit  an 
international  agreement  for  that  purpose,  make  this 
clear.  If  Germany  wins,  private  property  (not  con- 
nected with  war)  under  any  flag,  will  be  respected  on 
the  sea  as  well  as  on  the  land,  in  war  as  well  as  in 
peace. 

"Heretofore,  there  has  been  for  Germany  but  one 
alternative:  either  the  extension  of  international  law 
for  the  protection  of  private  property  upon  the  sea;  or 
the  protection  of  our  commercial  fleet  by  a  big  navy — 
big  enough  to  brave  the  English.  Every  reasonable 
German  was  and  is  in  favor  of  the  first;  but  England 
would  not  abandon  her  'right  of  piracy,'  which  was 
strongly  denounced  even  in  the  English  House  of 
Lords,  as  one  of  the  greatest  reasons  for  war  going  on 
in  the  world. 


204     WHAT   IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

"We  do  not  deny  that  England  needs  a  navy;  but 
so  do  we,"  continued  the  German  Socialist  thinker. 
"Mr.  Winston  Churchill,  the  first  sea  lord,  said  some 
time  ago :  'A  big  navy  is  a  necessity  for  England ;  for 
Germany  it  is  a  luxury.'  As  things  now  stand,  this  is 
not  at  all  true.  It  would  be  true,  perhaps,  if  England 
should  respect  private  property  on  sea,  but  not  other- 
wise. 

"England  depends  upon  overseas  commerce;  but 
Germany  also.  We  too  want  foodstuffs  and  raw  mate- 
rials from  foreign  countries.  How  should  we  get 
them?  Only  by  our  merchant  fleet.  And,  unless  pri- 
vate property  on  the  sea  be  respected,  what  protection 
is  there  for  German  commerce  against  every  thinkable 
British  brutality?  None,  except  our  navy." 

"What  do  you  say  of  the  violation  of  Belgian  neu- 
trality? Does  not  that  give  England  solid  ground  for 
her  contention  that  she  is  in  this  war  to  protect  the  in- 
tegrity of  small  states,  and  the  sacredness  of  treaties?" 
I  asked. 

"In  view  of  her  history,"  answered  Doctor  Sitde- 
kum,  "it  is  ridiculous  for  England  to  say  that  she  went 
to  war  to  defend  the  integrity  of  small  states!  What 
about  the  Transvaal  Republic?  What  about  the  Or- 
ange Free  State?  What  about  Egypt?  Look  at  her 
history — right  down  to  the  present  hour ! 

"As  to  the  breach  of  Belgian  neutrality,  the  Chan- 
cellor, in  a  frank  and  noble  way,  avowed  it  to  be  wrong 
— from  the  merely  formal  point  of  view.  We  are  of 
the  same  opinion.  All  our  sympathy  is  naturally  with 
that  unfortunate  nation.  But,  really,  Belgian  neutral- 
ity did  not  exist.  Afterward,  the  breach  of  that  neu- 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  205 

trality  seems  to  be  justified,  even  from  the  formal 
point  of  view,  there  being  no  neutrality,  but,  instead, 
treaties  with  our  enemies!  But  be  that  as  it  may,  it 
was  a  case  of  bare  necessity — emergency.  It  was  a 
question  of  life  and  death  with  us.  If  we  had  not 
marched  through  Belgium,  England  and  France  would 
have  done  so.  That  is  proved,  now.  We  knew  it 
then,  and  we  were  and  are  fighting  for  our  lives." 

"What  other  result  do  you  expect  from  the  war?"  I 
inquired. 

The  leader  of  the  German  Social  Democratic  party  an- 
swered :  "A  more  united  Germany ;  her  people  bound  to- 
gether as  never  before.  A  stronger  spirit  of  solidarity. 
The  advance  of  liberal  ideas  and  human  reforms — 
these,  and  a  peace  which  will  protect  us  from  future 
attacks,  and  allow  us  to  go  on  in  our  own  way,  solving 
our  own  problems  and  developing  our  own  civilization. 

"All  we  asked  was  to  be  let  alone,"  Doctor  Siidekum 
went  on.  "We  were  doing  so  much.  Look  at  what  we 
had  already  accomplished;  an  united,  prosperous,  and 
comparatively  happy  people.  Look  at  the  houses  where 
our  working  men  live — even  the  unskilled  laborers! 
We  are  well  aware  that  there  is  much  yet  to  do  to  bet- 
ter conditions,  to  give  the  population  still  more  space, 
more  air,  more  sun.  All  this  and  more  we  expect  to 
do.  The  ameliorations  worked  during  recent  years  give 
us  hope  that  things  will  grow  still  better  and  better  and 
in  a  comparatively  short  time. 

"See  these  working  people,  men  and  women — how 
neatly  clothed  they  are;  how  well  fed,  how  healthful 
looking!"  exclaimed  the  German  Socialist  proudly. 
"See  the  working  people's  children,  in  school  or 


206     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

at  play  on  our  public  grounds!  You  have  seen  these 
things  for  yourself — the  German  laborer,  his  family, 
his  home.  You  have  seen  the  magnificent  building 
owned  by  the  metal-workers;  the  more  beautiful  one 
owned  by  the  wood-workers;  the  splendid  People's 
Theater,  where  classics  are  performed,  built  by  the 
working  people.  Have  the  English  done  such  things 
for  their  working  men ;  or,  rather,  have  English  work- 
ing people  done  such  things  for  themselves  as  German 
laborers  have  done  for  themselves? 

"All  this  betterment  of  housing  conditions,  of  labor 
conditions  generally,  did  not  come  of  itself,"  Doctor 
Siidekum  explained.  "It  was  the  outcome  of  our  own 
strife  and  struggle.  We  built  up  our  great  popular 
party — let  us  call  it  the  people's  party;  our  well-man- 
aged trade  unions;  our  cooperative  shops,  stores  and 
factories.  In  brief,  we  became  a  national  power  and 
learned  to  use  our  influence  directly  and  indirectly. 

"Yet  they  talk  about  our  being  against  humanity 
and  civilization !  But  what  do  those  terms  mean  ?  Do 
they  not  mean  the  care  of  the  weak?  Is  our  care  for 
the  aged,  through  old  age  pensions,  our  industrial  in- 
surance, our  provision  against  sickness  and  accident, 
our  system  of  labor  exchanges  to  bring  the  employer 
and  worker  together — are  these  examples  of  barbar- 
ism? And  remember  that  there  is  less  poverty  in 
Germany  than  in  America,  notwithstanding  your  great 
resources  and  your  sparse  population,  as  contrasted 
with  our  small  resources  and  dense  population." 

When  I  suggested  that  the  old  age  pension  is  very 
small,  Doctor  Siidekum  answered: 

"It  is  a  beginning,  and,  practically,  it  is  a  great  deal," 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  207 

said  the  German  reformer.  "Take  even  the  lowest  fig- 
ure ;  suppose  an  aged  woman,  living  with  her  children 
and  grandchildren.  She  is  very  useful  about  the  house. 
Her  old  age  pension  makes,  to  that  family,  the  differ- 
ence between  industrial  independence  and  indigence; 
it  takes  away  the  pinch  of  poverty.  As  I  have  said, 
there  is  less  poverty  in  Germany  than  there  is  in 
America." 

"You  spoke,  Doctor  Siidekum,  about  there  being 
many  volunteers  among  the  million  and  a  half  German 
Socialists  now  at  the  front.  This  is  amazing  to  us 
Americans,  for  we  thought  that  all  German  Socialists 
now  soldiers  were  forced  by  the  government  to  bear 
arms  against  their  will,"  I  observed. 

"No,  indeed,"  said  Doctor  Siidekum.  "Thousands 
of  Social  Democrats  volunteered  and  were  accepted. 
Thousands  of  others  volunteered,  for  whom  there  was 
no  room,  and  who  have  not  yet  been  taken. 

"Our  beloved  comrade  Doctor  Frank,  of  Mannheim, 
is  a  fine  example  of  the  German  Socialist  volunteer  in 
this  war.  Doctor  Frank  was  beyond  military  age;  he 
did  not  have  to  go ;  could  not  be  forced  to  go ;  but  he 
demanded  to  go,  and  he  was  accepted.  And  this  great 
Socialist  was  among  the  first  to  fall  in  battle;  and  he 
was  the  greatest  peace  advocate  in  Europe!  That  is 
only  an  example. 

"Jaurez,  the  leader  of  French  Socialism,  might  have 
prevented  this  war,"  went  on  Doctor  Siidekum;  "he 
was  strong  enough  in  himself  and  brave  enough  to 
have  opposed  chauvinism  and  might  have  defeated  it. 
He  was  the  only  man  in  France  who  could  have  de- 
feated it." 


208     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF.  THE   WAR 

"But  what  about  Liebknecht,  who  voted  against  the 
war  appropriation?"  I  inquired.  "We  Americans  un- 
derstand that  he  represented  German  Socialism  in  that 
vote." 

"Liebknecht  stands  practically  alone  in  the  party," 
declared  the  Socialist  leader.  "He  is  now  a  man  with- 
out a  hold  in  the  party.  His  vote  betrayed  the  German 
nation,  and  German  Socialism.  Doctor  Frank,  enlisting 
as  a  volunteer,  demanding  to  be  taken,  and  falling  in 
battle,  truly  showed  the  spirit  and  feeling  of  German 
Social  Democrats  in  this  war." 

"Then,"  I  asked,  "is  the  German  Social  Democratic 
party  supporting  the  government  in  this  war?" 

"So  far  as  prosecuting  the  war  is  concerned,  yes. 
Our  vote  in  the  Reichstag  showed  that.  The  truth  is 
that  so  long  as  this  war  lasts,  and  it  must  last  until 
Germany  wins  a  safe  and  honorable  peace  such  as  I 
have  outlined,  there  are  no  political  parties  in  Ger- 
many, no  divisions  of  any  kind.  Social  Democrats  and 
Conservatives,  Protestants  and  Catholics,  capitalists 
and  laboring  men,  are  fighting  side  by  side.  The  Ger- 
man people  are  as  one  man  in  this  war." 

"And  the  women?"  I  suggested. 

"They  are  as  heroic  and  determined  as  the  men," 
replied  Doctor  Sudekum.  "They  are  ready  and  willing 
for  any  sacrifice — just  like  the  men.  They  know  and 
feel  their  duty,  exactly  as  do  the  men.  You  will  find 
no  break,  no  weakness,  anywhere." 

"I  suppose  that  your  plans  for  social  legislation 
must  be  suspended  until  the  war  is  over,"  I  observed. 

"Why,  no,"  replied  Doctor  Sudekum.     "Quite  the 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  209 

contrary!  Just  see  what  has  happened  since  the  war 
began!  See  how  the  pressure  of  war  conditions  has 
increased  social  legislation  in  Germany!  Now  the 
government  provides  for  working  women  during  the 
childbirth  period,  four  weeks  before  and  four  weeks 
after.  That  will  never  be  given  up.  A  maximum 
price  has  been  fixed  on  the  necessaries  of  life,  such  as 
food.  That  will  never  be  given  up,  except  in  cases 
where  it  is  wiser  not  to  have  it  permanently.  There 
never  again  will  be  a  cornering  of  any  foodstuff.  The 
government  at  last  has  taken  charge  of  basic  necessities 
of  life.  We  are  striving  for  State  insurance  against 
non-employment  during  the  period  of  enforced  idle- 
ness ;  we  shall  get  that,  too,  in  good  time — at  present 
there  is  little  non-employment  in  Germany. 

"These  and  our  other  laws  for  the  welfare  of  the 
common  people  are  examples  of  what  our  enemies  call 
German  barbarism.  They  would  be  better  off  if  they 
had  some  of  the  same  kind  of  barbarism,  themselves, 
instead  of  fighting  to  kill  the  Germany  that  has  done 
such  things,  and  will  do  more.  Yet  it  is  to  destroy  this 
modern  Germany  which  has  achieved  so  much  that 
Russian,  Japanese,  French,  Congoese,  English,  Sikhs, 
Gourkas,  Arabs  and  Moors  have  been  combined  into 
an  army  of  'civilization' !  According  to  our  enemies,  we 
Germans  are  the  savages,  and  the  cultivated  Slav 
muzhik,  who  can  neither  read  nor  write,  the  gentle 
Turco  from  northern  Africa,  the  peaceful  Sikh  and 
Gourka  from  India,  and  all  the  motley  horde  gathered 
together  to  crush  us  Germans — this  motley  horde  are 
the  'civilized,'  the  'cultured'  and  the  'refined' !" 


210     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 
The  German  Trades  Unionist 

"There  is  no  political  party  in  Germany  now,  and 
there  will  be  none  until  the  war  is  over  and  Germany 
is  victorious,"  said  Albert  Baumeister,  Assistant  Sec- 
retary of  the  International  Federation  of  Trades 
Unions.*  "We  Socialists  and  trades  unionists  are  in 
this  war  to  the  very  end.  Doctor  Siidekum  is  right 
when  he  says  that  with  us  Germans  this  is  a  working 
man's  war. 

"The  German  working  men  feel  that  England  is  re- 
sponsible," went  on  Mr.  Baumeister.  "She  wished  to 
break  down  German  trade,  by  which  the  product  of 
German  working  men  is  disposed  of.  The  English 
could  not  or  would  not  meet  us  in  fair  competition. 
We  have  different  methods  of  work,  better  organiza- 
tion, better  education.  It  is  to  this  and  other  similar 
things  that  our  industrial  superiority  is  due;  not  to 
longer  hours  and  better  pay,  as  the  English  imagine." 

"Do  these  differences,"  I  asked,  "grow  out  of  a  dif- 
ferent ideal  of  work  and  life?" 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Baumeister,  "that  is  the  origin  of 
the  difference.  The  German  ideal  is  that  a  man  has 
never  finished ;  that  he  should  go  on  growing  and  de- 
veloping all  the  time.  With  the  German,  learning  is  a 
passion.  Our  continuation  schools  are  examples  of 
this.  The  Trades  Union  and  Socialist  schools  are  other 
examples.  These  are  so  crowded  with  applicants  that 
as  yet  we  have  been  able  to  admit  only  officers  of  the 
unions  and  societies  to  learn  English  and  French. 


*  This  conversation  is  from  notes  carefully  taken  which  were 
read  and  approved  by  Mr.  Baumeister  at  the  time. 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  211 

"Gray-haired  working  men  of  sixty  may  be  seen  in 
these  schools  mastering  a  foreign  language,"  continued 
the  German  Trades  Unionist.  "We  have  lectures  by 
experts,  paid  for  by  the  Trades  Unions,  on  economic 
and  social  legislation.  Every  Trades  Union  has  its  own 
weekly  journal.  There  are  forty-seven  of  these  unions, 
and  their  weeklies  have  a  circulation  of  three  millions. 
The  Socialist  party  has  ninety-four  daily  newspapers 
in  Germany,  with  one  million  six  hundred  thousand 
subscribers,  printed  in  sixty-five  office  buildings  owned 
by  the  party.  The  building  of  the  Vorwarts,  in  Berlin, 
cost  six  million  marks.  I  mention  these  things  as  a  few 
illustrations  of  the  intellectual  activity  of  German 
working  men." 

"I  have  heard,"  I  remarked,  "that  duty  as  a  partial 
reward  for  his  labor  is  an  element  of  the  German  la- 
borer's concept  of  life  and  work." 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Baumeister;  "there  is  much  truth 
in  that.  And  I  think  it  peculiar  to  the  German  char- 
acter. A  German  working  man  works  for  wages,  of 
course,  and  demands  and  expects  to  get  a  just  share  of 
the  wealth  he  creates.  But  also,  in  doing  his  work,  he 
feels  that  he  is  doing  his  duty  in  building  up  industrial 
Germany  and  making  possible  better  industrial  condi- 
tions for  his  fellow  workers,  and  those  who  shall  come 
after  him.  There  is  always  in  the  German  mind,  a 
thought  of  the  future,  in  his  heart,  a  feeling  for  the 
common  welfare." 

This  was  almost  the  idea  that  had  been  expressed  by 
Doctor  Rathenau,  who  is  a  very  large  employer  of 
labor. 

"I  can  understand,"  went  on  Mr.  Baumeister,  "that 


212     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

it  will  be  difficult  for  non-Germans  to  grasp  this,  or 
perhaps  to  believe  it.  But  it  is  true.  The  best  single 
expression  for  the  German  working  man's  ideal  of  life 
and  labor  is  'the  spirit  of  solidarity.'  ' 

I  repeated  Professor  von  Harnack's  definition  of 
"Kultur." 

"That  is  very  brilliant  and  eloquent,"  said  Mr. 
Baumeister,  "but  German  working  men  would  put  it 
all  in  these  four  words :  'The  spirit  of  solidarity.' 

"The  English  do  not  even  comprehend  our  German 
ideal  of  constant  growth  of  the  individual,"  he  con- 
tinued; "the  acquiring  of  more  learning  day  by  day; 
the  mutual  spirit;  the  putting  of  duty  into  work  and 
getting  satisfaction  from  it,  and  all  the  other  things 
from  which  flow  our  better  methods,  better  work  and 
better  living.  Even  if  they  did  comprehend  it,  they 
would  not  be  willing  to  adopt  it.  Yet  without  it,  they 
can  not  match  us,  so  they  have  set  out  to  crush  us." 

Mr.  Baumeister  went  into  detail  as  to  how  England 
might  crush  German  industry,  his  explanation  being 
substantially  the  same  as  that  of  General  Director  Bal- 
lin  of  the  Hamburg- American  Line,  Doctor  Siidekum, 
the  Social  Democratic  leader,  and  Doctor  Rathenau, 
President  of  the  General  Electric. 

"But  that  might  mean  a  long  war,"  I  suggested. 

"Yes,"  answered  Mr.  Baumeister,  "the  war  may 
last  a  long  time.  At  first,  I  thought  it  would  last 
about  a  year.  But  now,  I  think  it  will  last  longer. 
It  may  last  several  years." 

"But  will  you  working  men  consent  to  so  long  a 
war?"  I  asked. 

"Yes ;  and  we  shall  go  on  to  the  last,"  said  Mr.  Bau- 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  213 

meister.  "We  are  ready  to  make  any  sacrifice.  We 
are  ready  to  give  our  lives.  Many  of  us  have  given 
life  already." 

"Who  began  this  war — who  do  the  working  men 
think  began  this  war?"  I  inquired. 

"Russia  began  it;  but  the  working  men  believe  that 
England  is  to  blame,"  said  the  German  Trades  Union- 
ist. "If  England  had  not  promised  to  help  Russia, 
Russia  would  not  have  acted.  And  England  had  a  real 
motive — to  break  down  German  industry." 

"But  Russia  had  no  such  motive?"  said  I. 

"No;"  answered  Mr.  Baumeister.  "It  was  a  mix- 
ture of  motives  that  moved  Russia;  the  pan-Slavist 
propaganda,  the  rotten  Grand  Ducal  party,  Russia's 
justifiable  desire  to  get  to  the  sea,  and  another  rea- 
son, which  I  shall  mention  in  a  moment.  With  any 
one  of  these  motives  absent,  it  is  just  possible  that  the 
others  would  not  have  been  strong  enough  to  have 
caused  Russia  to  act  as  she  did.  For  example :  If  Russia 
had  been  allowed  to  keep  Constantinople,  at  the  end 
of  the  Turkish  war,  or  Port  Arthur,  perhaps  Russia 
might  not  have  acted  now.  England  was  the  moving 
force  behind  the  scenes  that  kept  Russia  from  the  sea 
in  both  cases." 

"What  was  the  other  motive  which  German  work- 
ing men  think  induced  Russia  to  act?"  I  asked. 

"Liberalism  in  Russia,"  said  the  Trades  Unionist 
Secretary;  "that  springs  from  Germany,  you  know. 
Every  one  of  our  social  or  political  reforms,  either 
accomplished  or  proposed,  had  its  reflex  in  Russia. 
The  agitation  for  popular  government  in  Russia,  re- 
sulting in  the  Douma,  really  came  from  Germany. 


214     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

All  this  got  substantial  help  from  German  working 
men.  A  backward  state  can  not  maintain  its  position 
next  to  a  liberal  state.  There  were  strikes  and  up- 
heavals, and  all  sorts  of  labor  disturbances  as  the 
result.  So  Russia  wanted  to  overthrow  such  an  an- 
noying neighbor.  We  working  men  think  this  one 
reason  for  Russia's  action.  Yet  we  do  not  dislike  the 
Russian  people;  we  wish  to  help  them." 

"But,"  said  I,  "France  is  liberal." 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Baumeister,  "that  is  true.  And 
no  German  wants  to  fight  France.  France  made  this 
mistake  of  lending  too  much  money  to  Russia — more 
than  20,000,000,000  of  francs.  She  has  no  reason  to 
fight  us,  nor  we  to  fight  her.  We  do  not  compete 
nor  conflict  with  one  another,  industrially,  commer- 
cially or  economically." 

"How  will  the  war  end?"  I  inquired. 

"Germany  will  win,  sure,"  came  the  quick  positive 
answer.  "We  can  not  be  hurt,  financially.  See  how 
the  appeal  by  the  Emperor  was  answered.  It  is  im- 
possible to  starve  us;  the  food  monopoly,  which  the 
Trades  Unionists  first  urged  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  makes  it  certain  that  we  shall  have  food  for  any 
number  of  years.  The  prisoners  of  war  will  work  in  the 
fields.  Even  if  we  were  hard  pressed,  every  German 
is  ready  for  any  sacrifice.  The  spirit  of  sacrifice 
amounts  to  a  religion  among  the  German  people. 
There  is  nothing  we  are  not  ready  to  give,  or  do." 

"Was  not  Doctor  Frank,  the  Socialist  peace  advocate, 
who  enlisted  and  was  killed,  a  Jew?"  I  asked. 

"Yes,  and  what  he  did  represents  the  feelings  of 
the  Jewish  people  in  Germany,"  said  Mr.  Baumeister. 


GERMAN   THOUGHT  215 

"They  are  as  much  in  earnest  for  the  war  as  the  work- 
ing men.  They  know,  as  we  know,  that  only  by  pre- 
serving the  nation  can  we  build  up  reforms." 

"Do  you  working  men  then  look  for  more  reforms 
as  a  result  of  the  war?"  I  inquired. 

"Certainly,"  answered  the  German  Trades  Unionist. 
"Germany  will  come  out  of  the  war  a  more  unified 
people,  with  a  stronger  nationalism.  There  will  be  a 
more  liberal  government.  If  in  our  industrial  develop- 
ment there  has  been  any  of  the  dross  of  selfishness,  it 
will  be  burned  out,  and  we  shall  emerge  a  purified 
Germany.  Liberalism  is  spreading  rapidly,  as  the  war 
goes  on.  It  has  shown  itself  in  laws  already  adopted." 

"What  has  been  your  observation  of  the  wives, 
daughters  and  mothers  of  working  men?"  I  inquired. 

"As  united,  staunch  and  determined  as  the  men," 
was  the  answer.  "At  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  there 
were  some  tears.  I  have  seen  none  since." 


IX 

ESPECIALLY  SHELLED  :    FRENCH  FRONT* 

THE  guns  are  booming,  nor  is  the  sound  so  far 
away.  For  an  hour  their  thunder  has  been 
growing  louder  as  you  approach.  Soon  you  are  to 
stand  beside  batteries  and  later  in  front  of  them,  their 
metal  singing  a  few  feet  above  you.  Several  officers 
go  with  you  to  a  certain  point  where  the  French  guns 
are  most  thickly  planted.  Through  a  village  you  pass, 
where,  every  day,  German  shells  fall,  and  on  toward 
a  great  hill  up  which  the  road  winds  at  a  sharp  incline. 

Luckily  this  highway  is  bordered  by  trees  so  that 
the  half  dozen  automobiles  bearing  the  escort  of 
officers,  can  not  be  seen  from  the  German  positions, 
except  at  one  point  where  for  a  space  the  road  is 
unscreened;  and  you  are  to  find  later  that  German 
watchfulness  has  not  overlooked  it.  At  a  certain  well 
sheltered  spot  near  the  crest  of  the  hill,  the  automobiles 
are  stopped — to  go  further  means  their  certain  dis- 
covery and  an  equally  certain  hail  of  German  shells. 
From  this  point,  all  walk  forward,  for  single  indi- 
viduals can  not  be  discovered  easily  from  the  German 
observation  stations. 

In  a  few  minutes  you  are  among  the  big  guns.  Mar- 
velously  well  hidden  they  are.  Some  are  planted  in 

*  At  the  French  front,  February  26  and  27,  1915. 

216 


Big   gun   of   a   heavy   masked   battery   at   the    French    front, 

February  27th,  1915.    "  A  growth  of  small  pine  trees  thinly  veils 

the  location." 


ESPECIALLY   SHELLED  217 

natural  hollows ;  for  others  great  excavations  have  been 
dug.  A  growth  of  small  pine  trees  thinly  veils  the 
location.  At  first  you  think  this  little  wood  quite 
abundant,  for  the  small  trees  are  very  numerous,  and 
you  observe  that  the  guns  seem  to  be  located  where 
the  trees  are  thickest. 

On  noting  this,  you  are  laughingly  informed  that 
most  of  these  trees  have  been  cut  and  brought  from 
another  place,  and  are  fixed  in  the  earth  to  resemble 
their  natural  companions.  With  such  skill  had  this 
tree  planting  been  done  that  your  surprise  is  plain 
when  told  that  they  are  the  work  of  military  art,  and 
the  French  officers  laugh  heartily,  pleased  at  this  proof 
of  their  resourcefulness. 

Also  the  big  guns  are  so  covered  with  evergreen 
boughs  that  an  aviator  would  not  likely  suspect  what 
they  conceal ;  and  his  photograph  would  show  nothing 
except  an  apparently  natural  wood  with  equally  natural 
undergrowth  in  occasional  small  open  spaces.  These 
monsters  are  not  now  in  action,  and  the  gun  squads 
are  busy  about  the  details  of  the  batteries,  or  attending 
to  some  household  duty  of  their  underground  living 
places.  You  go  into  many  of  these,  and  find  them  so 
comfortable  that  you  gladly  would  exchange  them  for 
some  stuffy  hotel  rooms  you  have  frozen  or  smothered 
in. 

Other  batteries  are  in  rapid  action,  however,  and 
to  these  you  make  your  way.  They  are  located  a  con- 
siderable distance  in  advance  of  the  big  ordnance. 
You  pause  for  a  while  to  note  their  work,  and  then : 

"Would  you  like  to  go  to  our  observation  post? 
You  can  see  the  effect  of  our  shells  from  there,  and 


218     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

also  see  and  hear  our  telephone  system  at  work,"  po- 
litely explains  the  French  major  in  command  of  all 
the  batteries  at  this  strategic  location. 

"Orders  are  telephoned  from  there  to  each  battery," 
he  went  on,  "the  exact  distance,  elevation  and  direc- 
tion for  each  shot  and  the  frequency  of  our  fire." 

Beyond  these  batteries  then  you  make  your  way, 
to  an  open  space,  perhaps  three  acres  in  extent.  Ap- 
parently this  once  has  been  a  field,  for  no  trees  grow 
upon  it.  You  note  a  great  hole  in  the  earth  a  few  feet 
from  the  path  upon  this  tiny  field,  and  step  aside  to 
estimate  its  depth  and  diameter ;  but : 

"Please  keep  to  the  path,"  the  major  suggests.  "The 
field  is  quite  exposed,"  he  courteously  explains.  "The 
path  itself  winds  along  the  brow  of  the  hill,  which 
is  heavily  wooded  and  thick  trees,  therefore,  protect 
this  narrow  roadway  from  hostile  observation." 

"Crash !  Crash !  Crash !"  go  the  French  guns,  now 
behind  you,  and  shooting  over  your  head.  The  shells' 
song  is  a  chorus.  Just  as  was  the  case  when  at  the 
German  batteries  near  Messines,  Belgium,  Arras, 
France,  and  at  Bolimoff,  Russian  Poland,  the  music 
of  the  shell  is  distinctively  attractive.  But  the  ex- 
plosions of  the  guns  as  they  are  fired  buffet  your 
ear  drums  with  vicious  blows  of  sound.  Curiously 
enough,  no  answering  shells  come  in  reply  for  the  time 
being,  although  a  few  hours  before  the  German  gun- 
ners tried  to  find  out  exactly  where  these  concealed 
batteries  were,  as  is  shown  by  the  occasional  pits  on 
the  surface  of  the  little  field. 

And  now,  just  on  the  edge  of  the  hill,  facing  the 
German  lines,  you  enter  the  French  observation  point 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  219 

and  central  battery  telephone  station.  It  is,  perhaps, 
half  underground,  the  upper  half  being  so  skilfully  ar- 
ranged with  earth  upon  poles  and  vegetation  and 
shrubbery  over  all,  that  a  very  short  distance  it  can 
not  be  distinguished  from  other  similar  bumps  on  the 
hill's  knotty  forehead.  The  hill  at  this  point  drops 
sharply  down  to  the  valley  below. 

Through  two  wide,  narrow,  strongly- framed  slits, 
looking  out  over  the  valley  and  to  the  distant  heights, 
you  watch  the  effect  of  the  French  artillery. 

"You  see  that  little  wood  in  front  of  that  first  line 
of  trees  ?  It  is  to  the  left  of  the  church  tower  in  the 
village,"  asks  a  French  officer.  And  when  finally  you 
have  located  the  grove — "We  think  the  Germans  are 
setting  up  machine  guns  there.  We  are  shelling  that 
wood  to  prevent  them,"  he  explains. 

"How  did  you  discover  that  the  Germans  were  doing 
that?"  you  inquire. 

"We  are  not  sure  of  it,  of  course,"  he  answers,  "but 
we  saw  some  movement  there  early  this  morning  and 
we  deduced  the  German  purpose.  It  doesn't  hurt  any- 
thing to  take  precautions." 

"But,"  you  observe,  as  you  scan  the  valley,  "your 
shells  are  falling  to  the  right  and  the  left  of  the  wood. 
That  is  bad  marksmanship,  is  it  not  ?" 

"Oh,  no !"  he  answers,  "those  shells  you  see  bursting 
on  the  open  field  have  fallen  exactly  where  they  were 
intended  to  go.  The  German  trenches  run  along  there, 
and  our  shells  are  falling  very  near  them  if,  indeed, 
not  on  the  edge  of  the  trenches  themselves.  Other 
shells  are  going  into  the  wood — but  of  course  you  can 
not  see  them  explode." 


220     WHAT    IS   BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

"Crash!  Crash!"  still  go  the  French  cannon.  In  a 
moment  you  learn  to  watch  for  the  spout  of  mingled 
earth  and  smoke  which  marks  each  missile's  fall,  and 
think  that  you  can  locate  by  observing  the  difference  in 
time  between  the  gun's  firing  and  the  shell's  explosion 
the  gun  that  fired  it. 

"It  is  a  matter  of  exact  mathematics,"  elucidates  the 
artillery  commander.  "Here  are  photographs  of  the 
German  trenches;  they  were  taken  from  our  aero- 
planes," and  he  lays  before  you  several  pictures,  with 
white  angular  lines  upon  the  dark  brown.  These  pho- 
tographs were  taken  from  a  great  height,  directly  over 
the  German  trenches,  and  show  with  exactness  every 
turn  and  bend  of  them.  Such  are  the  unreal  and  im- 
possible feats  of  photography  in  modern  war — unreal 
and  impossible,  yet  actually  accomplished,  and  from 
flying  machines  going  at  great  speed. 

"These  photographs,"  explained  the  artillery  expert, 
"are  traced  upon  our  maps.  By  calculating  the  dis- 
tances between  known  points,  each  detail  is  reduced 
to  scale  with  mathematical  exactitude.  Modern  ar- 
tillery work  in  its  execution  is  a  matter  of  pure  math- 
ematics. Any  error  in  shell  firing  is  noted,  and  the 
proper  change  in  calculation  made.  For  instance,  we 
find  out  by  these  photographs  and  by  computing  dis- 
tances in  the  way  I  have  told  you,  just  where  the 
enemy's  trench  or  battery  is;  then  we  calculate  the 
exact  trajectory  and  know  before  it  leaves  the  gun 
where  the  shell  will  fall.  The  rest  is  just  hammering 
away." 

The  French  fire  was  growing  faster  and  faster. 

"Why  don't  the  Germans  answer?"  I  asked. 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  221 

"Our  aeroplanes  are  over  their  batteries.  If  they 
fired,  our  airmen  would  locate  some  which  we  have  not 
yet  found." 

"But  you  do  not  keep  your  aeroplanes  over  their 
batteries  all  the  time?" 

"No,  of  course  not;  but  they  are  there  now.  Per- 
haps the  German  guns  will  answer  when  our  aero- 
planes leave." 

And  answer  they  do,  not  a  quarter  of  an  hour  later. 
We  stroll  back  to  the  guns  wrhich  are  in  action.  As  we 
approach  them,  "Cease  firing!"  orders  the  major  of 
artillery,  in  an  instant's  lull  between  shots.  "There 
might  be  an  accident,"  he  solicitously  tells  you. 
"Something  might  slip,  you  see,  and — there  might  be 
an  accident."  We  are  walking  toward  and  slightly 
to  the  left  of  the  guns,  which  are  firing  almost  over 
our  heads  just  to  our  right,  and  are  so  close  that 
the  singing  shells  are  passing  not  more  than  ten  or 
fifteen  feet  above  us.  Yes,  to  be  sure,  something 
might  slip,  and  there  might  be  an  accident.  But  there 
is  not. 

"All  right,  my  Captain!"  answers  the  gun  corporal, 
and  everybody  laughs. 

"The  joke  is  that  the  Major  here  used  to  be  their 
Captain,  and  the  soldiers  can't  get  over  calling  him  'My 
Captain.'  They  seem  to  forget  that  he  is  Major  now," 
an  officer  explains.  Such  is  the  democracy  of  the 
French  army  in  war. 

Then  stepping  to  the  side  of  and  past  the  battery, 
you  ask  if  you  may  watch  the  guns  at  work  for  a 
while. 

"Why,  certainly!    We  are  very  proud  of  our  gun- 


222     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

ners  and  almost  as  proud  of  our  guns.  They  are  our 
'75Y  you  know — perhaps  you  have  heard  of  them 
before?" 

And  heard  of  them  you  had — everybody  in  France 
is  talking  of  this  75  mm.  field  piece.  So  you  take  your 
stand  four  or  five  feet  from  the  breech  of  one  of  the 
guns,  and  study  the  handling  of  these  famous  French 
cannon.  It  is  astonishingly  rapid.  On  either  side  of 
the  gun's  breech  sits  an  artilleryman;  the  one  on  the 
left  seems  to  be  attending  to  some  apparatus  control- 
ling the  elevation  of  the  gun;  the  one  on  the  right 
pulls  the  lever  which  discharges  it.  Others  pass  the 
cartridges.  All  these  men  have  their  ears  stuffed  with 
cotton.  Those  who  give  and  receive  telephone  orders 
have  their  ears  protected  by  the  close-fitting  receivers. 

"Put  your  fingers  to  your  ears,"  advises  an  officer. 
At  first  you  do  so,  but  become  so  fascinated  with  the 
quick  accuracy  of  the  men,  the  easy  action  of  the  gun, 
and  the  nonchalance  of  the  gunners,  that  you  twice 
neglect  the  precaution  and  get  a  smack  of  sound  in  your 
ears  that  makes  them  tingle  for  many  minutes  after- 
ward. 

You  are  now  midway  in  a  day  at  the  French  front. 
These  hours  of  incident  opening  delightfully  have  sped 
by  on  flashing  wings,  each  moment  laden  with  the  mild 
pleasure  of  possible  danger;  and  they  are  soon  to  close, 
like  the  climax  of  a  play,  with  a  snap  of  hitherto  un- 
en joyed  experience;  for  your  party  is  presently  to  have 
the  pleasant  distinction  of  being  especially  and  directly 
shelled  by  the  well-served  German  ordnance. 

The  day  before  visiting  the  French  batteries,  and 
at  another  part  of  the  French  front,  you  had  gone 


Famous  French  "75"  in  rapid  action,  French  front,  February  27th, 
1915.  The  Artillerymen's  ears  are  stuffed  with  cotton.  It  is  an 
instant  before  firing.  A  gunner  stands  ready  with  another  shell. 
"The  easy  action  of  the  gun,  the  nonchalance  of  the  gunners.' 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  223 

with  the  commander  of  a  certain  French  army, 
General  Franchet  d'Esperey,  whom  some  call  the  hero 
of  the  battle  of  the  Marne,  on  his  inspection  of  a 
French  aviation  camp.  Uncommonly  well  arranged, 
you  find  it.  Precision  and  accuracy  mark  the  move- 
ments of  both  officers  and  men  about  this  celebrated 
flying  war-squadron.  Many  of  the  mechanical  crea- 
tures of  the  air  stand  in  a  row  waiting  for  duty.  In 
several  great  hangars  are  others  ready  for  service.  The 
aviators  are  busy  about  their  tasks,  coming  sharply  to 
attention  as  the  General  passes  them  on  his  tour  of 
inspection. 

"It's  lucky  for  you,"  said  General  Franchet  d'Es- 
perey, "that  we  are  just  sending  out  three  machines 
typical  of  three  branches  of  our  aeroplane  service.  And 
I  am  glad  of  it,"  he  went  on.  "We  want  you  to  see 
everything." 

One  after  another,  three  flying  machines  leave  the 
ground.  Each  airman  is  clad  in  fur-lined  leather 
drawn  over  thick  warm  clothing;  head  and  face  are 
similarly  protected.  Not  the  smallest  particle  of  the 
face  is  uncovered;  for  they  are  to  mount  to  heights 
where  the  thermometer  registers  far  below  zero  and 
exposure,  even  for  a  minute,  means  freezing.  One 
young  aviator  standing  by,  who,  a  few  days  before, 
had  uncautiously  taken  off  his  glove  when  at  a  freezing 
altitude  in  order  to  take  more  accurately  a  photograph 
of  the  enemy's  works,  had  his  hand  frozen  badly. 

The  General  examines  the  young  airman's  hand  as 
carefully  as  he  notes  everything  else:  Alas!  this  inci- 
dent prevents  your  having  the  rare  experience  of 
making  one  of  these  military  flights  yourself;  for  the 


224     WHAT   IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

General  generously  had  offered  you  this  privilege, 
but  changes  his  mind  when  he  looks  at  the  hand  and 
then  at  you. 

"Too  cold!"  he  remarks.  Evidently  he  thinks  you 
too  unseasoned  to  risk  such  an  arctic  experience  in  the 
winter  air. 

One  of  the  aeroplanes  is  to  make  a  long  distance 
reconnaissance.  It  is  a  new  type  of  machine,  capable, 
you  are  informed,  of  a  speed  of  two  hundred  fifty 
kilometers  an  hour;  certainly  it  flies  with  incredible 
rapidity,  mounting  in  vast  spirals  to  an  immense 
height,  and  then  off  with  such  speed  that  it  quickly  is 
lost  to  sight. 

Another  machine,  a  biplane,  goes  more  slowly,  but 
still  very,  very  fast.  It  has  wireless  equipment,  photo- 
graphing apparatus,  and  is  to  discover,  if  possible,  cer- 
tain German  batteries.  Still  a  third  is  for  artillery 
work,  you  are  told.  It  will  drop  bombs  on  the  enemy's 
guns  if  it  can.  Devices  for  accuracy  in  bomb  dropping 
as  well  as  other  military  contrivances  of  these  war  air- 
craft are  shown  and  explained  to  you;  but  you  do  not 
understand  their  mechanical  details. 

How  swift  their  flight!  Although  the  day  is  cloud- 
less, these  craft  of  the  heavens  vanish  even  as  you 
look! 

"Will  you  come  with  me  to  Rheims?"  presently 
suggests  the  General.  "I  am  sorry  that  I  shall  have 
to  leave  you  there,"  he  remarks. 

"The  General  is  going  to  bestow  the  Legion  of  Honor 
on  a  wounded  soldier  who  won  it  as  all  our  men  do  by 
distinguished  gallantry  in  action,"  explains  an  officer 
who  is  of  our  party.  "It  is  the  General's  greatest 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  225 

pleasure,  next  to  actual  fighting  itself;  and  he  has 
plenty  of  it  to  do;  for  even  the  enemy  must  admit  the 
courage  of  our  men." 

"They  do,  and  most  generously."  You  are  glad  to 
give  this  information;  and  the  officer's  face  lights  up 
with  surprise  and,  you  think,  with  pleasure. 

And  so,  with  General  Franchet  d'Esperey,  in  his 
automobile,  you  are  whirled  toward  Rheims.  Already 
you  had  come  greatly  to  like  and  admire  this  fighting 
French  commanding  officer;  and  this  reminds  you  of 
the  curious  fact  that,  with  notably  few  exceptions,  the 
soldiers,  either  German  or  French,  are  quite  the  most 
agreeable  of  all  the  persons  one  meets  either  in  Ger- 
many or  France.  The  fighting  men,  on  both  sides, 
have  common  traits  which  irresistibly  attract.  They 
are  simple,  for  one  thing ;  simple  and  direct  as  a  child. 
There  is  no  mystifying  subtlety  about  them.  The  suc- 
cessful officer  is  not  complex.  He  has  decision,  too. 
And  he  is  unfailingly  cordial. 

Without  an  exception,  in  your  whole  experience, 
every  officer  you  have  met  on  both  sides  has  been  po- 
lite and  considerate — and  somehow,  you  have  felt  that 
it  is  no  mere  formal  thing  but  welling  out  like  a  clean 
spring  of  friendliness  from  a  heart  without  guile. 
With  the  officers  you  have  met,  both  French  and  Ger- 
man, everything  said  and  done  seemed  genuine,  un- 
affected; neither  in  France  nor  in  Germany  have 
these  brave  men  attempted  to  impress  you — and  after 
much  experience  you  are  convinced  that  this  type  of 
man  is  incapable  of  the  little  tricks  which  constitute 
the  legerdemain  of  the  courtier  or  politician. 

And  their  attention  to  their  duties — it  has  been  a  joy 


226     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE    WAR 

to  observe  their  conscientiousness  and  efficiency.  Gen- 
eral Franchet  d'Esperey  is  an  admirable  example  of  all 
these  soldierly  qualities.  You  have  ample  opportunity 
to  note  this  fact,  on  this  red-letter  day  when  you 
have  the  good  luck  to  be  with  this  fighting  French  chief 
on  one  of  his  innumerable  tours  of  inspection.  Noth- 
ing escapes  the  eye  of  Franchet  d'Esperey.  You  go 
with  him  into  a  semi-underground  soldier  dwelling  and 
observe  him  test  the  bread  and  take  in  with  his  swift 
and  critical  glance  every  detail  of  that  war  abode. 

It  is  said  that  he  enters  the  trenches  themselves  in 
the  same  way  and  with  the  same  method.  He  sees  to 
every  detail  himself;  he  compliments  or  criticizes  the 
private  soldier  as  well  as  the  officer ;  but  apparently  he 
does  both  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  all  feel  that 
they  are  his  comrades,  for  all,  officer  and  private  alike, 
adore  their  General.  Only  one  criticism  was  heard  of 
him — his  unconsciousness  of  fear  or  danger.  This 
estimate  is  borne  out  by  your  own  observation. 

Nothing  could  be  more  heartsome  or  pleasant  than 
spending  an  hour  or  two  with  this  thoroughgoing  sol- 
dier. His  table  talk  at  luncheon  makes  you  forget 
your  appetite.  For  Franchet  d'Esperey  is  full  of  ideas, 
and  very  clear  ideas  they  are,  and  he  speaks  them  out 
in  forthright  words,  as  if  ordering  a  charge.  His  big 
brown  eyes  look  squarely  into  yours — fighting  eyes, 
they  are ;  his  powerful  jaws  snap  together  as  he  makes 
an  assertion  or  asks  a  question.  Sometimes  he  stamps 
his  foot  to  emphasize  his  point  as,  for  example,  when 
he  tells  what  the  Allies  are  going  to  do  to  the  Ger- 
mans. 

His  thought  and  words  are  not  confined  merely  to 


Headquarters  5th  French  Army.  Col.  de  Lardemelle,  chief  of 
staff  to  General  Franchet  d'Esperey,  in  centre.  The  French 
officers  are  highly  trained  and  efficient.  "One  notable  military 
fact  of  this  war  is  that  France  appears  to  be  extremely  well 
equipped  with  highly  educated  and  seasoned  officers." 


ESPECIALLY   SHELLED  227 

the  military  phase  of  the  conflict;  he  is  just  as  clear 
on  the  political  issues  which  he  thinks  are  being  ar- 
gued on  the  battlefield,  and  upon  the  big  reconstruct- 
ive work  which,  in  his  opinion,  must  be  done  if  the 
Allies  win.  For  this  fighting  General  is  something  of 
a  statesman  as  well  as  a  soldier,  although  first  and  last 
and  in  every  fiber  of  his  being,  Franchet  d'Esperey 
is  the  soldier.  Born  in  Algiers,  he  has  taken  part  in 
every  military  conflict  France  has  had  almost  since  his 
boyhood — in  Africa,  China,  Tonking,  Indo-China, 
Madagascar,  in  short,  in  every  part  of  the  world  where 
France's  battle  flag  has  waved  or  French  guns  have 
thundered. 

At  his  businesslike  headquarters,  the  dominant  im- 
pression which  the  visitor  gets  is  that  of  discipline; 
rigid,  exacting  and  stern.  Orders  are  given  with  clean- 
cut  abruptness — with  force  not  to  be  misunderstood. 
A  not  unimportant  officer  comes  panting  in  response  to 
a  sudden  command  to  report.  He  gets  his  clear,  brief 
instruction,  and,  "Hurry,  now !"  explodes  the  General 
— the  curt  words  leap  from  his  lips  like  the  shell  from 
a  "75." 

The  General's  chief  aide,  Colonel  de  Lardermelle,  is 
quite  as  peremptory.  "He  is  a  magnificent  soldier,  and 
a  martinet,"  an  officer  informs  you. 

He  looks  and  acts  the  part.  He  is  a  professional 
soldier,  as  is  General  Franchet  d'Esperey  himself,  and 
indeed,  all  of  the  higher  commanding  officers  up  to  the 
supreme  head  of  the  army,  and  of  the  nation,  General 
Joffre  himself.  This  fighting  chief  aide  of  a  fighting 
General  is  of  a  family  of  professional  soldiers,  you 
are  told;  six  brothers  there  were,  three  already  dead 


228     WHAT,   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

on  the  field  of  battle,  yet  no  smallest  sign  of  a  visible 
impression  made  upon  the  three  who  remain,  you  are 
informed;  for  with  them  it  is  an  incident  of  duty,  a 
part  of  the  day's  work,  the  fortune  of  war.  There  is 
no  nonsense  about  General  Franchet  d'Esperey,  his 
chief  aide,  nor  indeed  his  whole  staff.  It  is  business 
with  them,  direct,  blunt,  imperative,  not  to  be  ques- 
tioned. The  great  and  deadly  business  of  war! 

This  much  is  said  of  these  men  because  they  are 
excellent  examples  of  the  French  officer;  and  one 
notable  military  fact  of  this  war  is  that  France  ap- 
pears to  be  extremely  well  equipped  with  highly  edu- 
cated and  seasoned  officers.  If,  as  is  the  common  re- 
port, the  new  volunteer  British  officers  are  not  well 
trained,  they  are  sure  to  get  sharp  instruction  from  the 
French  officers,  so  administered  as  to  be  obeyed, 
whether  compliance  is  agreeable  or  not. 

"Like  Indians,  eh?"  remarks  General  Franchet  d'Es- 
perey, as  he  points  toward  a  collection  of  huts  not 
far  from  the  road.  They  are  constructed  of  small 
branches  of  trees  and  thatched  with  straw  or  dried 
branches.  They  are  the  homes  of  soldiers  who,  it  is 
said,  prefer  these  abodes  to  the  more  civilized  accom- 
modations of  well-built  houses.  Many  of  the  red- 
trousered,  blue-coated  and  red-capped  "hairy  ones," 
as  the  French  call  their  soldiers  in  this  war,  are  about 
their  various  daily  tasks;  some  are  washing,  some 
mending  clothes ;  some  writing,  some  doing  this,  that, 
or  the  other.  Without  exception,  all  appear  robust 
and  in  the  high  tide  of  health.  You  note  the  physical 
fitness  of  the  men  all  day  long. 

"They  are  well  fed,  and  the  open-air  life  is  good  for 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  229 

them,"  explains  the  General.  "They  really  enjoy  it." 
And,  the  next  day  many  miles  away:  "What  do  you 
think  of  our  men?"  inquires  an  officer  after  your  long 
hard  hours  among  the  booming  guns  and  in  the 
crowded  trenches,  almost  encircled  by  the  German  war- 
pits,  had  drawn  to  its  interesting  close. 

"They  are  a  healthy-looking  lot,"  you  answer.  "The 
campaign  does  not  seem  to  hurt  them  physically." 

"On  the  contrary,  life  at  the  front  has  actually  im- 
proved their  physical  condition,"  explains  the  officer. 
"You  see,  they  are  in  the  open  air  all  the  time.  Then 
they  have  good  wholesome  food  and  plenty  of  it.  The 
mind  is  occupied,  too — something  is  liable  to  happen 
any  minute.  And  then  there  is  nothing  for  them  to 
drink — no  alcoholic  drink,  I  mean.  In  short,  their 
lives  are  simpler,  more  normal.  That  explains  the  im- 
provement in  their  health." 

Soon  our  automobile  approaches  Rheims : 

"They  shelled  the  town  yesterday — seventeen  people 
were  killed,"  observes  the  General  casually;  "and,"  he 
continues  reassuringly,  "they  bombarded  it  this  morn- 
ing, also,  although  we  have  no  troops  in  the  town." 

"Why  waste  powder  on  it  then?"  you  inquire. 

"Heaven  knows !  You  never  can  tell  what  they  will 
do !  We  may  get  some  shells  ourselves.  That's  why  I 
sent  back  the  other  automobiles.  They  can  see  us,"  he 
explains,  "and  more  than  one  automobile  at  a  time 
would  attract  attention.  The  Germans  would  think 
something  was  up.  And  there  is  no  especial  point  in 
getting  shot  at  just  for  the  fun  of  the  thing." 

Laughing  at  this  quaint,  military  humor,  into 
Rheims  you  go.  No  shells  fall,  however,  during  your 


brief  stay,  though  great  spurts  of  smoke  from  a  point 
in  the  air  some  distance  away  mark  the  premature  ex- 
plosion of  a  German  missile. 

In  Rheims  itself,  the  curious  indifference  of  civilians 
to  the  dangers  of  active  warfare,  which  so  surprised 
you  when  you  first  observed  it  on  the  eastern  and  west- 
ern German  battle  fronts,  again  compels  your  notice. 
People  are  about  the  streets  apparently  as  usual.  Evi- 
dently it  has  been  market  day,  and  the  market  women 
are  leisurely  gathering  their  unsold  stock. 

There  is  a  shattered  house  here  and  there,  and  now 
and  again,  a  hole  in  a  wall,  made  by  a  German  shell; 
though,  in  comparison  with  the  artillery  havoc  you 
have  so  often  seen  in  other  places,  the  damage  in 
Rheims  does  not  startle  you;  perhaps  familiarity  with 
ruins  wrought  by  battle  has  made  anything  but  whole- 
sale demolition  commonplace. 

The  cathedral  has  suffered  considerable  damage, 
though  not  nearly  so  much  as  you  had  expected;  for 
you  had  thought  it  utterly  reduced.  Yet  there  it 
stands,  its  two  noble  towers  rising  against  the  sky  in 
all  their  ancient  majesty.  But  most  of  the  old 
carved  figures  upon  the  archway  of  the  right  door  are 
shattered  and  cracked  off.  Strangely  enough,  those 
adorning  the  central  and  left  arches  are,  for  the  most 
part,  intact.  About  the  base  of  each  entrance  are  thick 
layers  of  sandbags,  perhaps  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high. 
These,  you  are  informed,  are  to  absorb  the  shock  and 
prevent  splintering  in  case  a  shell  should  fall  at  these 
points. 

The  interior  of  the  church  is  stripped  and  bare;  the 
rich  tapestries,  you  are  told,  were  sent  away  before  the 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  231 

Germans  reached  Rheims.  Many  of  the  medieval 
carvings  on  the  pillars  and  walls  at  the  front  of  the 
interior  of  the  cathedral  have  been  split  off,  the  effect 
of  fire,  you  are  advised.  Some  of  these  have  been 
collected  and  the  slabs  arranged  upon  the  floor. 

The  irreparable  loss  is  the  shattering  of  the  priceless 
thirteenth  century  stained  glass  which  made  the 
glorious  windows  of  the  cathedral  at  Rheims  artistic 
monuments  of  one  craftsmanship  of  the  middle  ages 
now  lost  to  the  world.  These  bits  of  unrestorable  art, 
so  cunningly  fixed  in  the  marvelous  pattern  of  these 
ancient  and  noble  windows,  were  shaken  from  their 
places  by  the  concussion  of  exploding  shells;  not  one 
of  these  bulky  missiles  appears  to  have  entered  the 
windows  themselves,  whose  intricate  framework  re- 
mains as  the  pious  workmen  made  it  hundreds  of  years 
ago.  But  the  entire  effect  is  ruined  by  the  dislodgment 
of  the  countless  pieces  which  have  fallen  away  and 
been  destroyed. 

Curiously  enough,  the  modern  glass,  in  one  or  two 
of  the  great  lower  windows,  is  not  even  cracked.  It 
easily  could  have  been  replaced  if  destroyed;  but  the 
delicate  and  exquisite  ancient  glass  of  the  splendid 
upper  windows  and  those  above  the  doors  which  were 
wont  to  give  to  the  interior  of  the  cathedral  of  Rheims 
its  unearthly  beauty,  never  can  be  restored. 

The  arched  flying  buttresses  supporting  the  walls 
from  the  outside  have  disappeared ;  and  without  these, 
you  are  informed,  the  cathedral  walls  will,  in  the  course 
of  time,  give  way;  but  skilled  masonry  and  good  en- 
gineering should  be  able  to  replace  these  massive  sup- 
ports in  a  comparatively  short  time.  It  was  questioned, 


232     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

however,  whether  modern  constructive  craft  is  equal  to 
the  task. 

Strangely  enough,  the  big  building  (the  archiepisco- 
pal  palace)  where  the  priests  and  cathedral  attendants 
lived,  which  stood  near  the  sacred  edifice  perhaps  not 
two  hundred  feet  away,  is  entirely  demolished — by  fire, 
you  are  told. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  cathedral  at  Rheims 
on  the  afternoon  of  February  26,  1915,  as  it  appeared 
to  an  unskilled  observer,  upon  hasty  inspection.  But 
the  priest  in  charge  said  that  it  had  been  hit  several 
times,  although  the  solid  heavy  stone  had  withstood 
the  shock;  he  said,  too,  that  an  unexploded  shell  at 
that  moment  was  lying  on  the  cathedral  roof. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  scenes  of  the  following  day 
at  another  and  far  distant  part  of  the  battle  line.  Let 
us  hark  back  through  the  zone  of  fire  to  that  point  of 
the  extreme  French  front  where  the  mighty  artillery 
duel  is  leaping  to  one  of  its  innumerable  climaxes  of 
ferocious  activity,  already  described.  And  there,  hav- 
ing seen  all  that  is  to  be  seen  and  heard  more  than 
plenty,  but  still  fascinated  and  loath  to  leave,  yet  eager 
for  the  trenches,  where  an  hitherto  unwitnessed  drama 
awaits  you,  these  words  are  both  regretted  and  wel- 
comed : 

"We  must  be  going,  now,  if  you  would  like  to  see 
the  trenches  thoroughly.  There  is  not  more  than 
enough  time  to  do  that  well  while  there  is  clear  day- 
light, for  they  are  a  considerable  distance  away,"  sug- 
gests an  officer  accompanying  you. 

To  the  automobiles,  then,  you  make  your  way,  gently 


At  the  moment  of  firing.  Another  shell  being  carried  to  the  gun. 
The  cannonading  is  very  heavy  at  this  point.  A  big  German 
shell  fell  nearby  a  moment  after  this  picture  was  taken.  "A 
thundering  explosion  rends  the  air."  French  front,  February 
27th,  1915. 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  233 

bitten  by  disappointment  that  nothing  thrilling  has 
happened. 

"Just  my  luck,"  you  observe  to  an  officer.  "Shells 
go,  but  none  come." 

"Well,  there's  one !"  he  exclaims  sharply,  as  a  thun- 
dering explosion  rends  the  air  a  little  distance  behind 
you.  You  turn  at  the  sound  and  a  great  column  of 
earth  and  smoke  flies  into  the  air,  not  an  hundred  yards 
from  where  you  stand.  You  had  gone  about  that  dis- 
tance from  the  batteries,  and  to  your  unexpert  eyes 
the  German  shell  seems  to  have  fallen  upon  the  very 
gun  and  among  the  very  men  whose  work  you  had 
been  admiring  only  a  few  minutes  before;  the  trees 
hide  from  you  the  spot  where  it  fell  and  exploded. 

Have  the  French  gunners  been  hurt,  you  wonder, 
and  suggest  to  the  major  that  we  go  back  and  see. 

But:  "Very  sorry,"  he  replies  a  little  acidly.  "You 
really  have  no  time,  if  you  wish  to  make  the  trenches." 
And  then  another  fountain  of  earth  and  smoke  flares 
upward  behind  you.  And  again  a  twisting  whine  as 
a  third  German  shell  makes  its  descent. 

"Something  the  matter  with  their  guns,"  remarks 
an  officer,  "or  that  shell  would  make  a  straight  sound, 
not  a  corkscrew  whine." 

"Still,  it  seemed  formidable  enough,"  you  suggest. 

"They  are  dangerous  but  in  a  curious  way,"  observes 
a  seasoned  artillery  officer. 

"I  think  that  was  a  big  shell.  If  it  falls  close  to 
you,  you  may  not  be  hurt  by  the  fragments  though 
you  may  be  paralyzed  by  the  concussion.  It  scoops 
out  a  lot  of  earth  and  covers  you  with  dirt;  it  is  the 


234     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

men  who  are  standing  just  a  little  way  off  whom  the 
fragments  of  the  shell  strike  and  tear  badly." 

But  the  thought  that  the  robust-looking  and  care- 
lessly courageous  young  soldiers  among  whom  you 
had  stood  only  a  few  moments  before  as  they  served 
their  guns  had  been  hurt,  will  not  leave  you.  Not  till 
a  week  later  do  you  learn  that  none  of  them  was 
killed,  none  wounded. 

You  make  your  way  to  the  automobiles  and  feel  that 
for  another  day  once  more  fate  has  cheated  you  of  any 
real  excitement;  for  you  are  going  to  the  trenches 
now ;  and  familiarity  has  advised  you  to  expect  nothing 
extraordinary  there.  But  fate  is  kind,  and  mild  en- 
tertainment is  being  provided  from  the  air  a  thousand 
feet  above  you. 

The  French  fire  has  been  so  rapid  and  heavy  that 
the  accustomed  alertness  of  the  Germans  is  sharpened, 
even  beyond  its  usual  razor  edge.  As  the  automobiles 
descend  the  hill  and  pass  the  short  open  space : 

"Bang!"  comes  a  sound  directly  over  your  automo- 
bile. 

"Huh !"  exclaims  a  French  officer.  "That  was  only 
a  77'!"  a  term  the  French  use  for  the  shells  of  the 
small-calibered  German  field  guns.  Still,  if  that  "77" 
had  hit  any  one  of  the  automobiles,  there  would  have 
been  another  story.  As  it  is,  the  German  marksman- 
ship appears  to  be  fairly  good. 

But  it  is  not  until  you  are  well  in  the  trenches  six  or 
seven  miles  away  that  you  find  how  closely  the  Ger- 
man gunners  can  follow  a  moving  party,  even  when 
going,  apparently  unseen,  through  zigzag  passages. 

Away  you  speed  miles  upon  miles  in  the  open  coun- 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  235 

try.  At  last  you  alight  and  make  your  way  for  a  long, 
long  distance  through  a  deep  trench  called  an  "ap- 
proach." At  intervals,  other  "approaching"  trenches 
join  the  main  "approach"  at  right  angles.  About  half 
a  mile  from  the  village  toward  which  you  are  making 
your  way,  where  the  local  trench  headquarters  are  lo- 
cated, the  local  commanding  officer  meets  you.  Very 
attractive  and  gentle-mannered  he  is,  delicate  of  face 
and  figure,  spectacles  before  his  mild  blue  eyes,  sug- 
gesting the  student,  artist  or  dreamer.  He  is  an  archi- 
tect by  profession  but  almost  as  carefully  schooled  in 
the  military  art  as  are  France's  superb  professional 
soldiers. 

He  leads  the  way,  and  finally  the  monotonous 
walk  through  the  "approaching"  trench  comes  to  an 
end,  and  you  are  in  the  streets  of  the  tiny  town.  The 
major  takes  you  to  his  personal  headquarters  first  of 
all.  Down  the  steps  into  the  cellar  of  an  old  building 
you  go,  and  stand  in  the  brain  center  of  this  minute 
fraction  of  the  French  front.  It  is  quite  comfortable, 
and  even  interesting.  A  bed,  a  desk,  a  telephone 
switchboard  with  wires  leading  to  every  part  of  the 
trenches  and  light  batteries  under  his  command — you 
are  pleased  with  the  businesslike  appearance  of  this 
subterranean  headquarters. 

Then  up  and  out  upon  the  street  once  more,  along 
which  you  make  your  way. 

"It  is  very  dangerous  indeed  here,"  suggests  a  cer- 
tain officer  from  the  War  Department  in  Paris.  You 
know  that  there  must  be  peril  if  this  man  makes  such 
a  remark,  for  you  have  heard  something  of  his  reckv 
lessness,  such  as  standing  for  half  an  hour  among  fall- 


ing  shells,  trying  to  take  a  snapshot  of  one  of  them 
exploding. 

Still,  nothing  happens  and  you  watch  two  young 
masked  soldiers  at  bayonet  practice  within  a  building 
opening  on  the  street,  surrounded  by  their  compan- 
ions, shouting  and  applauding  as  if  at  a  boxing  match. 
Along  the  street  you  go,  and  become  conscious  of  a 
curious  phenomenon.  The  village  seems  utterly  de- 
serted, and  yet  you  have  a  sense  that  it  is  teeming 
with  life. 

And  so  it  is.  Here  and  there  a  window  is  full  of 
faces.  Hardly  a  doorway  that  does  not  reveal  some 
one.  At  the  end  of  the  street  are  the  remains  of  what 
once  was  plainly  a  charming  church,  picturesque,  and 
with  a  sort  of  dainty  dignity,  even  in  its  ruins.  You 
enter,  and  observe  that  in  one  corner,  which  is  still  in- 
tact, a  mass  is  being  said. 

And  so,  on  to  the  real  trenches,  the  righting  trenches 
of  the  French.  You  mount  to  an  observation  point 
just  before,  and  scan  in  all  directions  the  field  of  action, 
or  rather  the  field  of  waiting.  The  French  trenches 
you  find  thrust  forward  somewhat  like  a  horseshoe; 
the  German  trenches  circling  them  in  front  and  on  left 
and  right. 

"Will  you  have  this  seat?  It  is  pleasanter,  and  you 
can  see  better." 

It  is  the  French  lookout  who  is  speaking,  and  in 
perfect  English.  He  is  a  small-statured  man,  with 
great  mild  blue  eyes,  his  intellectual  face  covered  with 
beard ;  he  can  not  be  over  twenty-five  years  old. 

"Where  did  you  learn  such  perfect  English?"  you 
inquire  as,  thanking  him,  you  take  the  proffered  seat. 


A  little  church,  beautiful  even  in  its  ruins,  in  a  French  village, 

passed  on  the  way  to  the  French  trenches  just   beyond.     The 

small   town   seems   deserted  but  its  inhabitants  are  still  there. 

French  front,  February  27th,  1915. 


ESPECIALLY   SHELLED  237 

"In  Berlin,  of  all  places  in  the  world !  Comic,  isn't 
it?"  he  answers,  smiling. 

"How  do  you  like  this  sort  of  thing?"  you  inquire. 

"It  isn't  very  pleasant,"  he  answers ;  "but  it's  all  for 
the  country,  so  I  don't  mind." 

Into  the  trenches  at  last.  There  is  no  rifle-firing 
near  you,  nor  indeed  within  hearing.  In  this  particular, 
the  experience  is  totally  unlike  that  enjoyed  in  the  Ger- 
man trenches  several  weeks  before,  for  at  that  time 
and  place,  the  firing  was  almost  continuous  and,  from 
the  French  side,  exceedingly  rapid.  But: 

"Bang!  Smash!"  comes  a  burst  of  sound.  You  pay 
no  attention,  for  you  have  heard  it  three  or  four  times 
before  in  the  last  ten  minutes,  and  think  these  explo- 
sions the  firing  of  the  guns  of  the  French  light  bat- 
teries which,  you  idly  conjecture,  are  located  close  be- 
hind you  in  the  rear  of  the  trenches.  Not  until  later 
are  you  undeceived. 

Finally  you  come  to  a  trench  typical  of  all  the  others 
you  see  this  day.  A  marvelously  comfortable  fight- 
ing workshop  it  is,  and  safe,  too.  It  is  unusually  deep 
and,  from  the  bottom,  a  soldier  standing  erect  can  come 
to  no  harm  by  a  bullet  fired  from  the  opposing  trench. 
A  firing  bench,  or  standing  place,  solidly  constructed 
of  boards  next  to  the  wall  facing  the  enemy,  enables 
one  to  look  and  shoot  through  the  firing  apertures 
which  are  quite  numerous  and  arranged  at  regular 
intervals. 

Upon  this  bench  stands  a  line  of  soldiers,  each  with 
rifle  in  hand.  They  come  to  attention,  and  salute  as 
the  company  of  officers  passes  by.  A  sturdy,  healthful, 
well-nourished  lot  of  men  they  are,  and  very  grim  of 


238     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

feature.  These  particular  soldiers  you  learn  are  Bre- 
tons. This  company  is  what  the  French  call  "terri- 
torials" and  the  Germans  would  call  "Landwehr" — 
that  is,  men  over  twenty-nine  years  of  age.  There  is 
little  light,  for  the  trench  is  protected  overhead  by  a 
bomb-proof  roof  made  of  railway  ties  covered  with 
earth.  It  seems  absurdly  secure,  but : 

"Please  do  not  look  for  too  long  a  time  through 
that  opening,"  requests  the  major  in  command,  "and 
be  careful  not  to  look  through  the  same  opening  im- 
mediately after  some  one  else  has  done  so.  You 
would  not  think  it,"  he  explains,  "but  they  can  see  that 
there  is  movement;  the  shutting  of  this  shooting  space 
means  that  some  one  is  looking  through  it.  It  is  sur- 
prising how  quickly  a  bullet  sometimes  comes.  That 
is  the  way  most  of  our  men  in  the  trenches  are  wounded 
— in  the  face,  head,  or  arms — and  I  fancy  it  is  the 
same  with  the  Germans." 

In  another  trench,  exactly  like  the  first,  many  of  the 
rifles  are  resting  on  the  lower  board  of  the  shooting 
slits,  through  which  their  muzzles  protrude,  ready  for 
instant  use.  You  observe  that  the  soldiers  here  have 
more  genial  countenances,  and  that  a  more  kindly  look 
shines  from  their  eyes  than  was  the  case  with  the  Bre- 
ton territorials.  Twice  you  get  a  faint  smile  in  re- 
sponse to  a  friendly  greeting.  The  physical  fitness  of 
these  men  is  also  noticeable.  Indeed,  this  may  be  said 
of  most  of  the  French  troops  personally  studied  at  the 
front. 

"Will  you  see  my  living  quarters?"  inquires  a  young 
captain.  You  will,  of  course. 

The  neatness  of  this  officer  attracts  your  attention, 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  239 

as  you  follow  him  down  several  steps  and  come  into  a 
good-sized  room  many  feet  under  ground.  The  ar- 
rangement of  this  room  corresponds  to  the  smartness 
of  the  young  captain's  personal  appearance.  It  is  a 
very  large  room,  at  least  twelve  by  fifteen  feet,  with 
a  ceiling  not  less  than  ten  feet  from  the  floor.  A  com- 
fortable and  commodious  iron  bed,  with  mattress, 
sheets  and  blankets,  stands  in  one  corner,  as  well  made 
up  as  the  beds  in  most  hotels.  In  another  corner,  to 
the  right  of  the  entrance,  is  a  desk,  chair  and  the  in- 
evitable telephone. 

On  the  left  is  a  large  mirror  fixed  on  the  wall  above 
a  dressing  table.  Razor,  soap,  brushes  and  the  other 
ordinary  articles  of  a  man's  toilet  are  laid  out  in  per- 
fect order.  Above  the  looking-glass  is  a  black  crucifix 
with  an  ivory  image  of  the  Holy  Figure  exquisitely 
carved.  On  a  shelf  fixed  in  the  wall  stands  a  bottle 
of  eau  de  Cologne  and  other  accessories  of  exaggerated 
elegance.  The  officers  accompanying  you  observe  your 
look  of  surprise,  which  you  do  not  well  conceal,  and 
begin  to  joke  the  young  captain. 

"It  is  his  boudoir,  you  know,"  one  of  them  explains 
to  you.  "Quite  sumptuous,  isn't  it?"  solemnly  remarks 
a  second — "for  the  trenches!"  exclaims  a  third.  All 
laugh,  and  the  young  captain  laughs  with  them.  He 
is  a  favorite,  you  find,  not  only  with  his  brother  offi- 
cers, but  with  the  men  he  commands,  for  he  has  shown 
both  courage  and  ability. 

So  you  make  your  rounds,  which  seem  endless. 

And  "Bang!"  And  again  "Bang !"  "Smash !"  comes 
the  sound  you  had  heard  before  and  thought  the  firing 
of  near-by  French  guns.  You  notice  it  particularly 


240     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

when  passing  along  an  uncovered  space  from  bomb- 
proof trench  to  bomb-proof  trench.  Within  these  lat- 
ter the  sound  is  only  a  muffled  thud,  scarcely  distin- 
guishable. But : 

"I  must  ask  you  to  remain  here  for  a  moment,"  re- 
marks the  major.  And  the  party  draws  back  into  a 
chamber,  or  passageway,  where  there  are  no  soldiers, 
and  no  spaces  through  which  to  look  or  shoot  at  the 
enemy's  lines.  It  is  covered  securely  by  railroad  ties 
and  earth.  Also,  a  thick  door,  fixed  to  the  stout 
wooden  uprights  that  frame  the  entrance,  is  shut  when 
the  last  man  is  within.  It  is  a  bomb-proof  retreat. 
Within  it  is  pitch  dark.  You  do  not  understand  the 
procedure  at  all. 

"We  might  as  well  sit,"  remarks  the  major.  Some 
one  lights  a  candle  and  places  it  in  a  niche  in  the 
earthen  wall.  There  is  a  bench,  you  discover,  and 
every  one  sits. 

"We  shan't  have  to  wait  long,  I  think,"  observes  the 
major.  "They  are  shelling  us,"  he  explains. 

"Shelling  us!"  you  exclaim.  "They  can't  be  shoot- 
ing very  well,  then,  for  I  have  heard  no  explosions !" 

"There  have  been  plenty  of  them,  and  will  be  more 
and  they  are  shooting  very  well  indeed,  too.  They 
have  been  following  us  from  trench  to  trench.  There 
goes  one  now,"  he  remarks. 

"Yes,  and  I  think  it  will  be  safe  now  for  a  minute 
or  two,  for  us  to  go  to  the  next  protected  trench," 
says  the  major.  "But  let  us  make  sure."  And  he  or- 
ders a  soldier  to  open  the  door  and  see  what  damage 
the  last  shell  has  done. 

In  a  moment,  the  grinning  young  private  returns 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  241 

and  reports  no  casualties,  but  says  that  the  German 
shell  exploded  on  the  edge  of  the  trench,  and  brings  a 
fragment  of  it,  and  one  of  the  missiles  with  which  it 
was  filled,  which  the  major  courteously  gives  you  as 
souvenirs. 

And  so  you  learn  that  what  you  had  supposed  to  be 
the  sound  of  the  near-by  French  guns,  was  in  reality 
the  explosion  of  German  shells  aimed  at  this  particular 
party  of  officers,  and  following  them  from  trench  to 
trench.  One  officer  has  counted  them — there  were 
twenty-nine  in  all.  It  is  explained  that  this  seemingly 
impossible  phenomenon  probably  occurred  in  the  fol- 
lowing way : 

When  the  six  automobiles  were  seen  from  the  Ger- 
man position  descending  the  hill,  where  the  French 
batteries  had  been  working  so  swiftly,  a  German  aero- 
plane, equipped  with  wireless  apparatus,  had  been  sent 
up  to  note  and  report  the  party's  progress  and  destina- 
tion. This  aerial  observer,  it  was  surmised,  had  sent 
a  wireless  message  that  a  party  of  officers  and  three 
civilians  had  left  these  automobiles  at  a  certain  point, 
disappeared  in  the  long  approaching  trench,  reappeared 
in  the  village  street,  and  entered  the  righting  trenches. 

To  the  Germans,  this  probably  had  meant  that  the 
officers  were  a  French  general  and  his  staff,  and  the 
civilians  important  French  functionaries,  perhaps  the 
Minister  of  War,  who  frequently  makes  such  ex- 
cursions, or  the  President  of  the  Republic.  Had  the 
Germans  known  that  it  was  only  an  innocuous  neutral 
observer,  his  secretary  and  an  agent  from  the  Foreign 
Office,  they  would  not  of  course  have  wasted  a  grain 
of  powder  on  us.  But  it  would  never  do  to  permit  so 


242     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

distinguished  a  party,  as  it  might  well  have  been,  to 
depart  without  paying  their  military  compliments.  No 
indeed!  So  "Bang!"  "Smash!"  and  scurrying  into 
bomb  proof  and  running  in  open  trench. 

And  thus  chanced  the  good  luck  of  being  the  object 
of  twenty-nine  well  directed  German  shells ! 

"It  would  be  amusing,"  remarks  a  genial  French 
officer,  "if  those  directing  that  fire  were  some  of  the 
friends  you  made  at  the  German  front !  What  a  joke 
if  that  were  so,  and  you  ever  get  to  tell  them  about 
it!"  And  he  laughed  pleasantly.  You  laugh  also,  but 
say  that  you  do  not  think  it  likely,  for  it  was  an- 
otjier  part  of  the  western  German  front  you  visited. 

"I  am  sorry  to  trouble  you,  but  we  shall  have  to  run 
through  these  uncovered  trenches.  And  bend  over, 
please.  It  won't  do  to  stand  still  for  a  minute,  nor 
show  your  head  for  an  instant." 

Thus  advises  the  commanding  officer.  And  run  you 
do,  and  hard  running  it  is,  the  major  leading  the  way; 
not  in  the  speed  you  make,  though  you  achieve  good 
progress,  but  in  the  difficulty  of  going  rapidly  while 
bending  forward  through  narrow  winding  trenches 
with  uneven  floors. 

No  incident  is  without  humor,  and  here  fun  runs 
before  you.  The  officer  immediately  preceding  you 
is  a  very  large  man  and  much  heavier  even  than  his 
great  height  requires.  Also,  he  still  wears  his  thick 
winter  military  overcoat.  He  is  quite  winded  when 
half  of  a  mile  has  been  traveled,  and  at  the  end  of  a 
long  run,  is  perspiring  like  a  longshoreman  at  heavy 
labor  in  August. 

"Phew!"  he  says,  "I  had  rather  fight!"    The  scion, 


ESPECIALLY    SHELLED  243 

this,  of  an  ancient  house,  whose  good  humor,  stolid 
courage  and  lack  of  pretense  have  made  him  beloved 
in  spite  of  his  rank. 

"Oh,  yes ! is  no  good  for  a  charge !  But  put 

him  in  command  of  a  position,  and  he  will  take  a  com- 
fortable chair  and  cheerfully  get  himself  shot  to  death. 
His  courage  is  of  the  staying  kind,  rather  than  of  the 
dashing  kind.  I  am  quite  sure  that  it  never  would 

occur  to to  retreat.  He  is  bravery  itself  but 

he  is  not  built  for  charging." 

Thus  your  attention  is  brought  to  another  fact  worth 

noting.  This  sturdy  soldier  was  spoken  of  as , 

his  patronymic.  He  was  spoken  of,  too,  as  captain. 
His  title  was  utterly  ignored.  A  duke,  count,  prince, 
baron,  marquis,  or  any  other  like  title,  does  not 
exist  for  the  French  soldier  or  officer.  There  are  plenty 
of  these  in  France,  and  of  the  most  ancient  blood.  But 
the  French  soldier  declines  to  recognize  the  fact,  and 
to  their  infinite  credit,  it  must  be  said  that  these  high- 
born ones  with  inherited  titles,  decidedly  respect  them 
that  they  do  not. 


X 

FRANCE  IN  ARMS  * 

THE  most  notable  result  of  the  war  in  France  is 
one  of  the  finest  human  circumstances  which 
the  war  has  developed  in  any  country.  The  revealing 
light  of  this  world-changing  conflict  has  discovered  a 
strong,  quiet,  serious  France,  earnest  and  elevated  in 
character.  There  has  been  a  new  birth  of  idealism; 
certainly  this  is  true  among  the  intellectual  classes,  and 
in  the  higher  social  circles. 

The  French  man  and  woman,  from  these  sections  of 
the  French  people,  declare  that  this  moral  and  spir- 
itual phenomenon  so  conspicuous  and  undeniable  even 
to  the  casual  observer  is  nothing  new  or  strange ;  they 
assert,  on  the  contrary,  that  this  French  attitude  of 
mind  and  soul,  its  eyes  fixed  upon  the  stars  instead  of 
upon  the  gutter,  is  the  old,  the  real  and  the  true 
French  spirit  which  has  been  there  all  the  time  though 
unnoted  by  an  idle  world  bent  on  gaiety. 

"Paris  and  all  France,"  said  one  of  the  old  Fau- 
bourg nobility,  a  traveled  gentleman  of  serious  pur- 
pose, totally  unlike  a  peculiar  type  which  has  been  held 
up  to  us  Americans  as  representative  of  this  ancient 
class ;  "Paris  and  all  France,"  said  he,  "is  like  a  noble 


*  Written  aboard  ship,  March  21,  1915. 

244 


FRANCE   IN   ARMS  245 

old  house  of  granite,  with  simple  beautiful  lines,  its 
foundations  fixed  in  rock.  Here  and  there  it  had  been 
defaced  by  stucco.  The  idle  passer-by  saw  only  this 
grotesque  exterior,  and  judged  the  house  accordingly. 
At  the  shock  of  war,  this  has  fallen  away,  and  there 
stands  the  real  Paris  and  the  real  France,  solid,  sim- 
ple, beautiful  and  enduring." 

Said  another  of  the  same  station  in  life:  "We  are 
like  Kipling's  ship  that  found  itself;  there  have  been 
many  complaining  and  contending  voices  among  the 
timbers  of  our  new  France;  but  now  that  the  storm 
is  on  us,  we  find  that  the  period  of  friction  is  over, 
harmony  prevails  and  the  nation  rides  the  waves  with 
an  unity  of  purpose  which  has  surprised  even  ourselves. 
In  short,  France  has  found  herself." 

Such  are  typical  French  interpretations  of  present- 
day  France  and  its  capital.  Whether  accurate  or  not, 
the  future  alone  will  disclose.  But  it  is  the  calm  esti- 
mate of  the  best  thought,  and  the  firm  conviction  of 
the  highest  character  among  the  French  people.  It  is 
felt  even  by  the  cautious  observer  trying  to  hold  a 
steady  balance  of  just  proportion,  that  one  statement 
at  least  may  be  ventured  with  confidence :  The  Ameri- 
can visitor  to  or  resident  of  the  French  capital  never 
again  will  see  the  Paris  to  which  some  were  accus- 
tomed. Vanity  and  show,  surface  and  neurotic  de- 
lights, ennui  and  over  fashion,  have  passed  away.  The 
intellectual  pessimist,  the  blase  in  life  and  character, 
that  tinsled  gaiety  in  conduct  which  the  sated  mistook 
for  pleasure — all  these  have  gone. 

None  of  these  things  is  in  vogue  any  more  in 
Paris.  The  serious,  the  thoughtful,  the  idealistic, 


246     WHAT   IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

even  the  religious  make  up  the  moral,  spiritual  and 
intellectual  atmosphere  of  this  transformed  city.  A 
new  spirit  of  industry,  too,  is  in  the  air,  or  rather  in- 
dustry in  a  new  guise — industry  in  the  sense  that 
everybody  has  something  to  do,  everybody  is  doing 
that  something;  and  that  something  is  noble,  pure,  un- 
spotted of  gain.  Also  everybody  is  finding  that  the  joy 
of  unselfish  doing  is  sweet  and  wholesome.  To  put  it 
in  terms  which  some  American  frequenters  of  Paris 
will  better  understand,  let  us  say  that  the  smart,  the 
flippant,  the  irreverent,  the  idle,  are  no  longer  fash- 
ionable. 

In  this  soul-testing  hour,  little  or  no  excitement  and 
bluster  is  to  be  seen  or  heard.  Instead,  there  is  a  quiet 
stern  resolve.  At  least  one  may  say,  to  keep  far  within 
the  limits  of  the  truth,  that  this  certainly  is  true  of  the 
intellectual  classes  and  scholarly  circles. 

"Our  feelings  are  so  deep  that  we  can  find  no  words 
to  express  them,"  said  Monsieur  Bergson,  the  noted 
philosopher  and  leader  of  the  new  school  of  French 
thought.  "Our  emotion  and  our  purpose,"  said  he, 
"can  manifest  themselves  only  by  a  great  calmness, 
which  almost  may  be  said  to  be  exaltation." 

All  this  was  visual  to  the  visitor  in  Paris  toward  the 
end  of  the  winter  of  1915.  For  Paris  was  a  place  of 
sadness  and  mourning,  but  also  of  heroism  and  resolve. 
Her  streets  were  deserted  of  young  men,  as  indeed  is 
true  of  every  town  and  city  of  France,  and  of  her 
fields  and  vineyards  also.  They  are  all  at  the  front, 
or  in  reserve  depots,  waiting  for  the  order  to  launch 
themselves  into  the  conflict. 

"Yes,"  said  a  highly  informed  and  moderate-minded 


FRANCE   IN   ARMS  247 

young  woman  of  one  of  the  best  families  of  France, 
"Paris  is  deserted,  and  we  are  proud  of  it.  We  would 
not  have  our  men  stop  behind — not  one  of  them. 
Where  would  they  be,  if  not  at  the  front?" 

And  Paris  does  seem  deserted  to  one  who  knew  the 
Paris  of  old,  with  its  crowded  streets,  its  overflowing 
cafes,  the  whirling  activity  of  its  thoroughfares.  There 
are  many  people  about,  to  be  sure,  and  sometimes  the 
grands  boulevards  seem  well  filled.  But  the  Parisian 
visitor  of  a  year  ago  would  hardly  recognize  the  French 
capital  of  to-day,  so  great  is  the  disparity  between  the 
teeming  life  of  the  place  then  and  its  comparative 
meagerness  now.  Also,  the  atmosphere  of  gloom  is 
instantly  felt  by  one  newly  arrived  in  Paris,  although 
the  sensation  wears  off  after  a  week  or  two  under  the 
anaesthetic  of  time  and  custom. 

This  feeling  of  depression  which  falls  upon  the  vis- 
iting observer  is  deepened  by  the  darkened  streets  at 
night;  for  while  there  is  light  enough  to  make  one's 
way  about  the  central  and  more  frequented  thorough- 
fares, yet  the  city  as  a  whole  is  very  somber  after  sun- 
set. An  American  thoroughly  familiar  with  his  Paris 
found  great  difficulty  in  making  his  way  on  foot  from  a 
residential  quarter  to  the  hotel  section.  No  blazing  arc 
lamps  longer  flare,  and  the  system  of  electric  lighting 
which  was  wont  to  make  the  Paris  nights  so  brilliant 
awaits  the  issue  of  war  to  resume  its  illuminating  work. 

Then,  too,  the  hospitals.  Hospitals !  Hospitals !  To 
one  unaccustomed  to  such  scenes  and  familiar  with  the 
Paris  of  old,  everywhere  there  appears  to  be  these  ref- 
uges of  the  stricken.  Along  the  Champs  Elysees, 
well-known  and  palatial  hotels  are  now  the  abodes  of 


248     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

wounded  men,  and  uniformed  nurses  have  taken  the 
place  of  the  hotel  attendants.  Private  houses  facing 
this  world-famed  thoroughfare  are  now  also  devoted 
to  the  housing  of  the  injured. 

This,  indeed,  is  true  all  over  the  city.  Calling  upon 
a  gentleman  of  great  wealth  living  in  one  of  the  most 
extensive  and  luxurious  houses  of  Paris,  one  found 
one's  self  among  the  odors  of  disinfectants,  and  the 
women  members  of  the  family  arrayed  in  the  costume 
of  nurses.  On  side  streets,  too,  the  sign  of  the  Red 
Cross  or  other  symbols  advertise  these  stations  of 
succor. 

As  you  are  starting  for  England,  March,  1915, 
comes  the  order  from  General  Joffre  himself  to  pre- 
pare one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  additional  hos- 
pital beds  against  the  need  which  the  spring  campaign, 
so  shortly  to  begin,  will  bring  in  its  sanguinary  wake. 
This  in  Paris  alone,  where  also  the  boys'  schools  have 
been  taken  over  to  serve  as  hospitals !  Such  is  the  grim 
prospect  the  French  people  consciously  and  bravely 
face! 

"Is  this  really  gloom  that  I  seem  to  feel  in  Paris,  or 
am  I  merely  depressed  without  real  justification?"  you 
ask  an  American  woman,  wife  of  an  old-time  American 
friend,  as  you  sit  at  luncheon  with  a  company  of  Amer- 
ican acquaintances. 

"Yes,  it  is  gloom,"  she  answers;  "we  feel  it  our- 
selves, and  no  wonder.  France  is  suffering  so  much, 
fighting  so  hard,  and  the  Germans  are  not  so  very  far 
away.  The  men  are  all  out  there  fighting,  or  waiting 
to  fight.  I  wish  I  could  fight  with  them — I  do,  indeed ! 
I  should  like  to  take  a  gun  and  shoot  a  German!" 


FRANCE    IN   ARMS  249 

And  the  Germans  are  not  so  very  far  away — an 
hour  and  a  half  swift  automibile  drive  would  bring 
one  into  the  German  lines.  Also,  the  words  of  this 
American  woman  reveal  a  circumstance  which  you 
are  to  note  again,  in  London  as  well  as  in  Paris :  the 
American  woman  is  far  more  violent  in  her  feelings 
than  are  the  women  of  the  warring  countries — cer- 
tainly more  violent  in  the  expression  of  them.  It 
would  appear  that  an  American,  when  inoculated  with 
the  sentiment  of  a  country  where  he  or  she  resides, 
shows  that  sentiment  in  intense  fashion. 

But  while  Paris  is  depressed  it  can  not  be  said  that 
the  feeling  is  caused  by  despair;  the  gloom  does  not 
seem  to  be  the  child  of  hopelessness.  On  the  contrary, 
the  French  firmly  believe  that  the  Allies  will  win,  and 
the  grounds  for  this  faith  we  shall  examine  presently. 
But  France  has  lost  much  blood ;  she  is  losing  more  all 
the  time,  and  she  knows  that  soon,  very  soon,  the  life 
current  is  to  issue  from  every  pore;  and  France  has 
no  blood  to  lose.  It  will  take  her  a  long  time  to  supply 
the  crimson  strength  already  poured  out  so  prodigally 
and  with  such  abandoned  valor. 

It  will  take  a  long,  long  time — generations — to  re- 
place the  men  who  must  fall  before  this  war  ends;  a 
fact  so  well  understood  in  France,  and  especially  by 
French  women,  that  one  of  the  reconstructive  results 
of  this  war  already  apparent  is  the  purpose  and  resolve 
now  openly  stated  by  representative  women  of  the 
highest  class,  especially  among  the  old  aristocracy  of 
whom  America  never  hears,  that  the  French  family 
should  and  will  be  very  much  larger  in  the  future  than 
it  has  been  in  the  past. 


250     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

The  melancholy  feeling  flows  from  the  carnage  al- 
ready wrought  and  the  greater  havoc  which  they  know 
must  come.  Even  more  it  flows  from  their  constant 
knowledge  that  the  enemy  is  on  French  soil,  that  the 
war  in  the  west  is  being  waged  in  France  itself,  and 
the  very  richest  part  of  France  at  that. 

But  the  French  have  no  doubt  that  they  will  win — 
or  rather,  that  the  Allies  will  be  victorious.  For  they 
frankly  admit,  and  the  admission  is  infinitely  to  their 
credit,  that,  standing  alone,  they  could  not  prevail 
against  their  mighty  eastern  neighbor.  They  even  con- 
cede that  Germany  might  possibly  overcome  France 
and  Russia  put  together.  But  they  contend  that  with 
England  added  Germany  has  no  chance  against  these 
three  greatest  powers  of  Europe  combined. 

And  the  French  are  ready  to  do  their  part  in  this 
gigantic  partnership  of  war. 

They  already  have  done  far  more  than  their  just 
share.  Not  in  the  most  glorious  days  of  the  great  Na- 
poleon did  the  sons  of  France  pour  out  their  blood  with 
greater  prodigality  than  their  descendants  have  done 
up  to  the  present  hour  of  this  mighty  conflict.  And 
they  do  not  begrudge  it;  they  are  willing  to  give  still 
more. 

"To  the  last  man !"  exclaimed  one  of  the  first  intel- 
lects of  France. 

For  they  are  obsessed  of  the  conviction  that  defeat 
means  the  extinction  of  France — its  physical  extinc- 
tion. They  really  believe  that  France  will  disappear 
from  the  map  of  Europe  if  Germany  wins.  It  has  be- 
come an  idee  fixe. 


FRANCE   IN   ARMS  251 

The  roots  of  this  conception  of  German  pur- 
poses and  policy  run  back  to  the  fateful  year  of 
1870,  and  are  fixed  in  the  soil  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 
The  French  never  have  forgotten  the  taking  of  these 
two  provinces.  In  latter  years  they  imagined  they  had 
forgiven  it;  but  the  war  revived  the  sleeping  rancor; 
the  doctrine  of  revanche,  preached  for  so  many  long 
years,  though  latterly  abandoned,  left  its  seed  of  drag- 
on's teeth  in  the  French  heart ;  and — so  runs  the  French 
thought — if  Germany  wrongfully  took  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine by  force  when  she  won  then,  what  will  she  not 
wrongfully  take  by  force  if  she  wins  now?  Certainly 
Flanders,  Artois,  Champagne  and  Picardy,  the  richest 
portion  of  France,  and  that  part  of  the  coast  of  Nor- 
mandy upon  the  Channel,  down  to  and  including  the 
harbor  of  Le  Havre. 

This  is  the  very  least  which  the  French  believe  Ger- 
many would  exact  from  them,  if  victorious.  Amazing 
as  it  may  seem  to  Americans,  and  surprised  as  the 
Germans  will  be  to  learn  it,  it  nevertheless  is  true  that 
there  are  those  in  France  who  think  that  Germany 
would  take  the  whole  country  if  she  could,  yes,  even 
to  the  Pyrenees. 

And  they  are  perfectly  sure  that  Germany  is  out  gun- 
ning for  French  colonies;  and  these,  very  rich,  very 
profitable  and  very  well  administered,  are  very  dear  to 
the  French  heart  no  less  than  to  the  French  pocketbook. 
Just  how  this  French  way  of  thinking  developed  will 
be  an  engaging  theme  for  the  historian.  Certainly  the 
French  think  that  the  Morocco  affair  and  the  Agadir 
incident  sustain  their  opinion.  What  they  describe  as 


252     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF.   THE   WAR 

"Germany's  pounding  on  the  table  with  a  sword"  got 
sadly  on  their  nerves;  for  they  are  a  highly  sensitive 
people. 

Then,  too,  the  more  thoughtful  believed  that  France 
was  already  being  "Germanized." 

"German  working  men  have  steadily  been  taking  the 
place  of  French  laborers,  here  in  France,  here  in  Paris," 
said  one  of  the  most  dependable  of  this  class.  "Ger- 
man business  men  were  rooting  out  French  business 
men.  The  Germans  were  even  buying  up  our  land. 
This  has  been  going  on  all  over  France,"  he  continued, 
"and  with  them,  these  multitudes  of  Germans  brought 
their  industrial  methods,  their  ideals  of  life,  their  so- 
called  'Kultur.'  It  is  a  fact  that  if  this  had.gone  on  it 
would  not  have  been  a  great  many  years  until  they 
would  have  taken  France." 

Careful  inquiry  was  made  as  to  the  accuracy  of  this 
statement  about  German  industrial  and  business  suc- 
cess in  France.  It  was  confirmed  by  those  questioned 
concerning  it.  "It  is  quite  true,"  said  an  American,  a 
friend  of  thirty  years'  standing,  who  is  one  of  the  best 
informed  men  in  the  country,  and  whose  conservative 
reliability  and  cautious  understatement  is  his  principal 
characteristic;  "it  is  quite  true,"  he  testified.  "For 
example,  many  of  the  largest  dressmaking  establish- 
ments, which  most  American  women  suppose  to  be 
French,  are  in  reality  owned  by  Germans." 

A  foreign  business  man,  manager  of  a  large  plant  in 
a  certain  part  of  the  republic,  testified  that  the  Ger- 
mans were  taking  France  in  an  industrial  and  a  busi- 
ness way.  Asked  as  to  how  this  was  possible,  he  ex- 
plained, from  his  own  experience,  the  infinite  pains  the 


FRANCE    IN    ARMS  253 

Germans  took  to  supply  just  what  their  customers 
desired,  their  patient  labor  and  prudent  foresight. 

When  asked  why  Germany  should  resort  to  war  to 
obtain  what  she  was  already  getting  by  peaceful  meth- 
ods, the  answers  of  French  men  and  women  were  that 
it  is  the  German  habit  of  mind  to  take  physically  and 
by  force  the  thing  desired;  or  that  a  successful  war 
would  give  Germany  governmental  control  as  well  as 
physical  possession  of  very  rich  and  contiguous  terri- 
tory, and  also  more  soldiers  for  her  army;  or  that  it 
was  Germany's  desire  to  get  coveted  ports  on  the 
Channel;  or  that  it  was  the  love  of  conquest  for  its 
own  sake;  or  that  it  was  the  "insane  ambition"  of  the 
Emperor  to  rule;  or  that  it  was  the  working  out  of  the 
supposed  German  plan  to  dominate  the  world ;  or  that 
it  was  a  part  of  Germany's  resolve  to  be  the  first,  the 
leading,  the  compelling  power  of  Europe,  "the  auto- 
crat of  Europe,"  etc. 

As  to  why  France  is  in  the  war,  most  will  tell  you 
that  it  is  because  she  was  invaded.  But  not  all  give 
this  as  the  primary  cause ;  indeed  most,  after  the  fron- 
tiers of  conversation  have  been  passed,  concede  that 
France  would  have  entered  the  conflict  for  deeper  rea- 
sons, even  though  she  had  not  been  invaded. 

It  was  admitted  that  her  alliance  with  Russia  would 
have  forced  her  to  take  up  arms  to  aid  her  ally,  as  a 
matter  of  national  honor.  Stronger  even  than  this  was 
the  statesman's  view  that  France  had  to  fight  to  save 
the  principle  of  the  equilibrium  of  Europe,  the  balance 
of  power,  which  Germany's  growing  strength  already 
threatened,  and  which  her  victory  over  Russia  would 
have  overthrown. 


254     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

Running  parallel  with  this  and  with  equal  or  greater 
influence  in  the  French  mind  was  the  feeling,  yes,  even 
the  deliberately  thought-out  conclusion,  that  if  Russia 
was  unsupported,  Germany  would  defeat  Russia,  and 
then  attack  and  conquer  France  next,  and  after  that  un- 
dertake the  conquest  of  England.  "It  would  have  been 
our  turn  next,"  was  the  common  expression;  and  "it 
would  have  been  our  turn  next,"  was  what  you  heard 
said  in  England. 

The  belief  entertained  by  some  Germans  that 
France's  enormous  investments  in  Russia,  which  would 
be  imperiled  if  not  lost  in  case  of  Russian  defeat,  was  a 
deciding  factor  in  determining  France  to  engage  in  the 
struggle,  is  hotly  denied  by  every  Frenchman,  and,  to 
the  careful  observer,  seems  unjustified.  Some  Germans 
estimated  that  the  French  have  invested  more  than 
20,000,000,000  of  francs  ($4,000,000,000)  in  various 
ways  in  Russia ;  painstaking  inquiry  in  France  inclines 
one  to  the  opinion  that  this  is  at  least  5,000,000,000 
($1,000,000,000)  too  high. 

The  best  informed  financial  men  in  France  who  are 
not  French  citizens  or  of  French  blood,  place  the  maxi- 
mum of  French  investments  of  every  kind  in  Russia 
at  15,000,000,000  of  francs  ($3,000,000,000) ;  but  it 
seems  reasonably  certain  that,  no  matter  what  the 
amount,  France  was  not  drawn  into  the  war  by  the 
fear  of  losing  her  Russian  investments,  nor  even  influ- 
enced by  that  consideration. 

Just  as  the  Germans  believe  they  are  fighting  for 
their  lives,  for  their  very  existence  as  a  nation,  which 
they  think  the  Allies  under  the  leadership  and  direction 
of  Great  Britain  are  trying  to  crush,  so  the  French  be- 


FRANCE   IN   ARMS          .         255 

lieve  that  they  are  fighting  for  their  lives  and  their  ex- 
istence as  a  nation,  which  they  consider  Germany  is 
trying  to  crush.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  higher 
classes  and  the  intellectual  circles. 

Whether  this  thought  and  feeling  that  French  na- 
tionality will  be  extinguished,  French  culture  and  ideals 
smothered,  and  the  French  country  physically  seized 
and  occupied  in  case  of  German  victory,  which  so  sat- 
urates the  mind  and  heart  of  intellectual  France,  ex- 
tends downward  to  the  grass-roots,  and  is  entertained 
to  the  same  extent  by  the  mass  of  the  common  people, 
is  not  certain.  Nor  is  it  for  the  present  moment  ma- 
terial. 

One  thing,  however,  may  be  said  for  sure  of  the 
French  masses:  They  know  that  the  enemy  is  on 
French  soil,  and  they  are  resolved  to  drive  him  out  of 
French  territory  and  take  back  the  lost  provinces. 
Whatever  the  reasons  which  brought  France  to  take 
part  in  Armageddon,  the  present  feeling  among  all 
French  men  and  women  is  one  of  heroic  resolve  that 
counts  no  cost  too  high,  no  sacrifice  too  great.  This 
resolve  is  noble,  inspiring,  beautiful  and  even  touch- 
ing in  its  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  high  purposes. 
There  is  something  almost  of  religion  in  the  exaltation 
of  sentiment,  especially  among  the  higher  classes,  who 
mean  to  go  and  will  go  to  the  very  end,  to  the  very 
last  centime,  to  the  very  last  drop  of  blood — literally 
that,  not  figuratively,  but  literally. 

And  the  end,  to  these  upper  classes,  is  not  merely 
the  expulsion  of  the  Germans  from  France;  to  them 
the  driving  out  of  the  invader  is  only  the  beginning. 
It  is  not  even  the  recovery  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine; 


256     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE    WAR 

"That  goes  without  saying"  or  "That  is  not  to  be  dis- 
cussed— Alsace  and  Lorraine,  of  course."  Their  pur- 
pose is  to  annihilate  the  military  power  of  Germany: 
"To  destroy  military  Germanism,  root  and  branch," 
as  one  French  statesman  put  it  with  flashing  eyes.  "We 
are  going  to  make  another  war  on  France  impossible ; 
we  are  willing  to  die  now,  ourselves,  rather  than  that 
our  children  should  have  to  go  through  the  furnace." 

Just  how  they  will  break  the  German  sword  and 
make  the  German  hand  powerless  to  grasp  and  the 
German  arm  nerveless  to  wield  it,  is  not  clear.  The 
bitterness  toward  the  German  Imperial  Government 
affords  a  hint. 

Also  this  class  dreams  of  the  re-arrangement  of  all 
Europe.  To  this  end  they  are  making  maps  in 
France — redrawing  the  existing  boundaries  of  nations. 
Their  quick  and  logical  imagination  has  leaped  to  a 
new  and,  as  they  think,  more  natural  adjustment  of 
peoples.  Germany  is  to  be  dismembered,  or  at  least 
shorn  of  what  the  French  think  is  not  hers  and  confined 
within  what  the  French  contend  to  be  her  rightful  lim- 
its— and  even  then  something  more  is  to  be  done  with 
her;  Austria  is  to  be  torn  all  to  pieces  and  distributed 
according  to  race;  Poland  is  to  be  made  a  kingdom 
with  the  Russian  Czar  on  her  throne ;  Turkey  is  to  be 
divided  among  the  Allies  and  so  forth  and  so  on.  It 
is  the  same  map  you  find  later  which  has  been  drawn 
in  England,  where  mapmaking  is  a  favorite  pastime. 

That  all  this  may  mean  a  very  long  war  does  not 
matter  in  the  opinion  of  the  best  realms  of  French 
thought.  Not  that  they  believe  that  the  war  will  con- 
tinue for  any  extended  period — for  they  are  convinced 


FRANCE   IN   ARMS  257 

that  the  Allies  will  overwhelm  Germany  within  a  few 
months;*  but  they  are  willing  to  prolong  the  war  in- 
definitely to  accomplish  the  far  purposes  they  now 
have  in  mind. 

But  the  views  of  the  common  people  on  this  point 
are  not  so  clear.  "The  peasants  know  only  that  France 
is  invaded/'  remarked  an  uncommonly  intelligent 
French  business  man,  "and  they  want  to  put  the  Ger- 
mans out  of  France.  Of  course  they  want  Alsace  and 
Lorraine  back  too,  now  they  are  at  it.  But  further  than 
this,  I  can  not  say." 

A  business  man,  not  of  French  birth  or  blood,  but 
unusually  well  informed  concerning  the  French  com- 
mon people,  and  especially  what  he  terms  "the  money- 
making  middle  class,"  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  these 
classes  would  not  be  hot  for  the  continuance  of  the  war 
once  the  Germans  were  back  in  their  own  country,  and 
certainly  not  if  Alsace  and  Lorraine  were  recovered. 

"I  have  heard  members  of  the  money-making, 
money-saving  bourgeoisie  say,"  he  commented,  "that 
the  war  is  getting  to  be  very  long;  that  they  wish  it 
were  over;  that  they  are  not  doing  any  business — and 
so  forth."  And  this  particular  man  was  very  severe 
upon  this  "money-making  middle  class."  "For,"  said 
he,  "the  Germans  ought  to  be  smashed  and  smashed 
forever."  Asked  whether  he  thought  that  any  decided 
reverse  would  still  further  weaken  this  class,  he  an- 
swered with  bitterness :  "Yes,  undoubtedly ;  they  want 
to  get  to  making  money  again." 

On  the  contrary,  consider  this  statement  of  a  French 
business  man,  conservative  and  reliable  and  belonging 

*  Written  March  21,  1915. 


258     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

to  the  upper  reaches  of  "the  money-making  middle 
class." 

"Certainly  we  shall  go  on  to  the  end !  Will  the  re- 
tirement of  the  Germans  from  France  satisfy  us?  No, 
indeed;  and  they  will  not  retire — we  shall  put 
them  out.  Will  we  be  content  with  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine? Certainly  not!  They  are  cturs,  anyhow.  I  am 
an  Alsatian,  you  know.  What  will  satisfy  us  ?  Crush- 
ing Germany  so  that  she  never  can  make  war  on  us  or 
anybody  else  again !  How  far  am  I  willing  to  go  my- 
self ?  My  two  sons  are  at  the  front.  They  may  be 
killed ;  they  probably  will  be  killed.  I  am  prepared  to 
give  them  gladly  to  destroy  the  menace  of  Germany. 
If  I  had  more  I  should  give  more!" 

No  one  could  doubt  the  deep  earnestness  of  this  man, 
an  old  acquaintance  of  stainless  character  and  moder- 
ate cautious  mind.  He  had  been  a  soldier  him- 
self in  the  Franco-Prussian  War  of  1870-71  and  had 
left  his  beloved  Alsace  rather  than  live  under  the  rule 
of  the  conqueror. 

And  here  is  the  comment  of  a  woman  who  kept  a 
bookstall  in  Paris  and  has  two  sons  in  the  army :  "We 
have  been  living  in  terror  all  the  time — the  terror  of 
war.  We  can't  stand  it  any  longer.  We've  got  to  get  rid 
of  it  forever.  We  had  rather  die  than  go  on  living  as 
we  have  for  the  last  forty  years.  We  have  been  under 
the  menace  of  Germany  all  that  time.  I  hate  war,  all 
war.  I  want  this  war  to  go  on  until  there  can  be  no 
more  wars.  How  far  am  I  willing  to  go?  I  have 
given  my  sons !" 

Two  old  French  maiden  ladies,  sisters,  sixty  years 
of  age  and  over,  living  in  their  cold  and  cheerless 


FRANCE   IN   ARMS  259 

apartment  four  flights  above  the  street,  in  the  Latin 
quarter :  "We  would  do  anything,"  said  they,  "sacri- 
fice anything,  to  get  rid  of  the  menace  of  the  Germans ! 
We  would  work,  starve,  fight,  anything  if  necessary." 
They  were  greatly  excited.  But  just  what  "getting  rid 
of  the  German  menace"  meant  to  these  aged  people  was 
not  explained.  Whether  they  would  be  satisfied  with 
freeing  France  of  the  invader  and  recovering  Alsace 
and  Lorraine  was  not  ascertained. 

As  to  the  intellectual  classes,  the  higher  business  cir- 
cles and  especially  the  ancient  aristocracy,  however, 
there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt.  The  calm  purpose  of 
these  classes  to  prosecute  the  war  to  such  a  point  that 
France  never  again  will  be  disturbed  is  clear  and  cer- 
tain. And  to  these  classes  this  means  the  shattering 
of  present-day  Germany. 

Across  the  beauty  of  their  resolve,  however,  has 
been  shot  a  dark  and  unlovely  circumstance.  Cartoons, 
and  by  noted  artists,  represent  the  German  soldiers  as 
creatures  of  infinite  cruelty,  shameful  cowardice,  bes- 
tial lustfulness.  For  example,  one  of  these  pictures, 
so  well  done  that  it  is  a  work  of  art,  portrays  a  beauti- 
ful woman  perfectly  nude ;  she  is  being  thrust  forward, 
screaming  and  throwing  her  arms  in  despair  above  her, 
by  a  group  of  savage-looking  German  soldiers,  who, 
using  her  as  a  shield,  are  firing  from  behind  her ;  and 
other  German  soldiers  are  seen  crawling  over  the  em- 
bankment above  which  she  has  been  lifted.  The  title 
of  this  cartoon  is  "Their  Shield." 

Another  cartoon,  done  with  similar  art,  shows  a 
beautiful  woman,  also  perfectly  nude,  lying  on  her  side 
upon  the  floor,  her  arm  thrown  in  terror  before  her 


260     WHAT    IS '  BACK  ^OF~  THE  >WAR 

eyes,  and  over  her  half  crouching,  in  brutal  loathsome- 
ness, a  German  soldier,  with  arms  extended  toward 
her,  the  greedy  hands  arranged  like  talons,  two  teeth 
showing  between  the  thick,  curled-back  lips  of  infamy, 
the  face  stamped  with  remorseless  lust. 

Still  another  portrays  three  or  four  German  officers, 
their  faces  bloated  to  rotundity,  their  eyes  protruding 
like  frogs,  their  faces  unintelligent  and  animal,  taunt- 
ing a  lovely,  almost  an  ethereal  woman  whom  they  had 
stripped  of  every  particle  of  clothing  and  had  chained 
or  tied  to  a  bar.  The  officers  are  maudlin  with  drink.. 
Again,  another  similar  cartoon  shows  two  young  Ger- 
man cavalrymen,  their  horses  laden  with  plunder,  with 
little  children  tied  with  ropes  and  dragged  behind,  the 
German  soldiers  on  horseback  riding  along  in  great 
glee  over  their  booty  and  their  captives. 

Yet  another  of  these  numerous  cartoons  is  particu- 
larly revolting — it  shows  a  wounded  German  soldier 
lying  on  his  back  in  bed;  a  kindly- faced,  uniformed 
French  army  surgeon  is  dressing  the  hurt  in  his  foot. 
The  injured  soldier's  face,  full  of  hate,  is  turned  to- 
ward the  French  military  Samaritan;  it  is  a  criminal's 
face,  with  heavy  jowls,  protruding  chin,  close-cropped 
hair  and  low  forehead;  the  coarse  ringers  of  the  thick 
hand  grasp  a  murderous  knife — he  is  about  to  strike 
the  kind-hearted  French  surgeon  who  is  affording  him 
succor. 

The  above  are  only  examples  of  many  such  present- 
ments of  the  German  soldier  whom  each  of  these  pic- 
tures portrays  as  a  type  of  the  German  army  and  in- 
deed of  the  German  people.  The  effect  of  these  rep- 
resentations of  the  German  soldier  and  the  German 


FRANCE    IN    ARMS  261 

people  was  nothing  short  of  ghastly  to  the  American 
newly  arrived  from  Germany,  where  his  study  of  the 
faces,  manner  and  conduct  of  common  soldier  and 
officer,  and  of  the  German  people,  gave  no  such  idea  as 
that  pictured  in  these  cartoons. 

Yet  it  is  certain  that  these  pictures  and  the  swarm  of 
monstrous  stories  that  cluster  around  them  have  had 
great  effect  upon  French  sentiment.  The  grave  error 
of  them  is  that  they  brand  a  whole  people  with  infamy. 
Every  well-wisher  of  France  must  regret  this :  even  for 
the  purposes  of  the  present  hour.  For  no  sustained  con- 
flict can  be  waged  upon  mistaken  hatred  against  an  en- 
tire nation ;  and,  if  it  should  turn  out  that  personal  con- 
tact negatives  the  ground  of  that  hate,  there  is  danger 
that  there  might  be  a  letting  down  in  such  animosity- 
inspired  energy. 

To  the  lover  of  humanity  who,  looking  far  ahead, 
sees  the  end  of  the  war  and  realizes  that  these  peoples 
in  the  coming  years  must  live  together  as  neighbors, 
the  thought  is  terrible  and  full  of  dread  of  the  genera- 
tions of  bitterness  which  the  feelings  thus  aroused  must 
bequeath  to  the  future. 

There  are  soldiers  in  the  trenches  who,  it  would  seem, 
reflect  little  of  this  spirit.  Their  letters  are  full  of 
courage  and  kindness.  Here  is  an  extract  from  one 
written  by  a  French  soldier  to  his  wife  the  day  after 
Christmas : 

"!N  THE  TRENCHES,  December  26,  1914. 
"Mv  DEAREST — It's  something  new  for  me  to  cele- 
brate Christmas  in  the  trenches,  and  especially  so  to 
celebrate  it  with  the  enemy.  Think  of  it!  We  crawled 
out  of  our  holes  and  they  did  the  same,  and  by  signs 


262     WHAT   IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

and  grimaces  wished  each  other  a  happy  Christmas, 
and  exchanged  chocolates  and  cigarettes.  Yes,  they  are 
men  like  ourselves,  and  we  must  all  obey,  and  each  one 
fight  to  defend  his  country.  It's  hard  to  think  that 
to-morrow  we  will  be  at  it  again  and  may  be  killing 
each  other.  My  heart  was  heavy  when  I  read  in  your 
letter  last  night  that  you  were  not  going  to  buy  any- 
thing for  the  children  at  Christmas.  Why  do  you  do 
this?  You  should  have  bought  them  something  use- 
ful— at  least  some  little  thing  for  Christmas.  I  am 
glad  mother  is  well.  If  only  you  could  get  news  from 
Auguste!  I  am  afraid  the  worst  has  happened.  Try 
to  keep  it  from  mother,  but  prepare  her  for  it.  To  all, 
thanks  for  the  packages  and  also  for  my  sleeping  bag. 
All  the  civilians  around  here  have  been  expelled  on 
account  of  the  treacherous  things  they  have  done. 
Now  we  have  received  orders  to  take  anything  we  need 
from  the  houses  of  these  people.  We  have  even  taken 
furniture  to  make  our  fires.  It  is  dreadful.  Kiss  the 
dear  children  for  me  and  tell  them  always  to  be  good. 
To  you,  my  dearest,  he  who  loves  you  embraces  you 
tenderly." 

Here  is  another  from  a  French  soldier  to  his  parents : 

"January  5,  1915. 

"Mv  VERY  DEAR  PARENTS — It  is  raining  again  and 
the  mud  is  awful  and  makes  it  difficult  to  circulate  in 
the  trenches,  fields,  and  especially  the  woods.  But,  in 
spite  of  this,  the  general  condition  of  our  troops  is 
good.  Few  cases  of  sickness,  and  we  are  always  in 
good  spirits.  New  Year's  eve  we  had  a  little  extra — 
two  quarts  of  wine,  apples,  oranges,  nuts  and  tobacco. 
Also,  a  little  champagne.  Oh,  no  quantity  of  anything! 


FRANCE    IN    ARMS  263 

For  by  the  time  all  these  good  things  reach  the  poor 
trooper  there  is  not  much  left !  For  instance,  we  had 
three  cigars  for  five  of  us,  so  that  the  two  who  had  no 
cigars  did  the  spitting  and  tried  to  imagine  they  were 
smoking.  We  were  all  quite  happy,  seated  on  some 
straw,  singing  and  reciting.  At  Christmas  we  also, 
each  of  us,  got  a  package  of  tobacco  as  a  present  from 
the  children  of  France,  with  a  special  label. 

"Christmas  eve  we  also  stopped  fighting,  and  we  all 
assembled,  French  and  German,  without  arms,  on  the 
ground  between  the  trenches.  By  mutual  consent  we 
buried  our  dead.  Then  we  exchanged  wine  and  cigar- 
ettes. Then  we  all  sang  together,  and  at  last  went  back 
to  our  trenches.  I  forgot  to  say  that  these  Germans 
were  Bavarians.  They  are  different  from  the  Prus- 
sians. They  also  seem  tired  of  this  war  of  the  trenches, 
which  is  tiresome  and  demoralizing.  It's  very  difficult 
for  either  side  to  advance.  The  first  line  of  trenches 
are  about  100  meters  apart.  We  have  few  wounded. 
Most  of  the  time  both  sides  fire  in  the  air,  just  to 
scare  each  other  a  little."  .  .  . 

The  following  from  a  French  soldier  to  his  mother, 
full  of  endearing  tenderness,  describing  the  hardship 
of  the  trenches,  "with  water  up  to  our  shoulders,"  as- 
sures her  that 

"Your  letters  always  do  me  good  and  give  me  fresh 
courage,  which  I  need,  for  the  time  passes  so  slowly. 
Fortunately  there  are  others  more  courageous  than  I 
and  who  keep  up  the  spirits  of  the  rest.  Mon  Dieu, 
what  a  struggle !  And  for  a  result  which  will  probably 
not  be  very  brilliant.  But  we  will  fight  to  the  very 
end.  ...  I  leave  you  to  go  to  sleep  in  my  cave,  at 


264     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

least  protected  against  those  devilish  bullets.     When 
will  their  awful  whistling  stop?" 

Here  is  a  battle  picture,  written  to  his  aunt,  by  a 
wounded  French  soldier  in  the  hospital : 

"I  was  wounded  the  22nd  in  Belgium.  One  ball  went 
through  my  right  wrist,  and  a  piece  of  shell  struck  my 
left  hand,  I  was  also  hit  in  two  other  places.  So  I  cer- 
tainly got  my  full  dose,  and  don't  want  another.  We 
arrived  in  a  little  village  in  Belgium  at  10  o'clock  in 
the  morning  where  we  thought  we  could  spend  the  day 
quietly.  All  of  a  sudden  the  bullets  began  to  whistle. 
We  searched  the  houses  but  at  last  found  the  enemy 
hidden  in  trenches  about  200  metres  from  us.  They 
were  six  times  as  many  as  we.  The  battle  lasted  from 
11  till  5,  the  bullets  fell  like  rain.  We  had  to  retreat 
taking  our  wounded  with  us  for  over  four  kilometres, 
and  the  Germans  were  some  times  only  fifty  metres  be- 
hind us.  You  can  imagine,  dear  Aunt,  how  the  bul- 
lets whistled.  My  comrades  fell  to  right  and  left  of 
me.  I,  wounded  as  I  was,  kept  saying  to  myself,  'it's 
your  turn  next,'  but  the  good  God  had  a  little  pity  and 
I  managed  to  escape,  etc." 

Just  one  more  of  these  letters  telling  of  trench  war- 
fare— this  from  a  French  soldier  to  his  wife: 

"September  13,  1914. 

"In  the  Trenches  5  I. 

"Still  in  the  trenches.  If  we  were  exposed  like  this 
in  time  of  peace  we  would  certainly  all  be  dead.  Many 
fellows  are  killed  through  their  imprudence.  They 
want  to  see  what's  going  on  and  of  course  the  enemy 


FRANCE   IN   ARMS  265 

shoots.  That  is  the  reason  so  many  are  found  dead 
with  wounds  in  their  heads.  Well  this  war  can't  last 
forever.  The  women  must  not  lose  their  courage,  we 
won't  all  be  killed,  and  those  of  us  who  do  return  will 
be  better  men  than  we  have  ever  been,  that  I  promise 
you." 

All  French  men  and  women  personally  conversed  with 
are  absolutely  certain  that  the  Allied  Powers  will  be 
overwhelmingly  victorious  and  that  the  Germans  will 
be  hopelessly  and  irretrievably  beaten.  The  grounds 
for  this  belief  are  substantial,  material,  and,  to  the  eye 
of  purely  practical  calculation,  weighty. 

First  of  all,  as  has  been  suggested,  France's  belief 
that  Germany  will  be  defeated  is  not  based  alone  or 
even  chiefly  on  French  resources,  French  valor  or 
French  spirit,  although  she  has  displayed  and  is  show- 
ing an  over-abundance  of  all  these.  French  courage  and 
French  steadfastness  have  won  for  France  anew  the 
admiration  of  the  world  and  the  ungrudging  applause 
of  her  enemy  in  arms. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  too  much  in  praise  of  French 
fortitude  and  spirit.  But  the  combination  of  Allies  is, 
the  French  think,  a  massing  of  power  against  which 
Germany  can  not  possibly  prevail  and  under  the  blows 
of  which  Germany  will  be  crushed  as  certainly  as  a 
hollow  globe  of  glass  would  be  ground  to  powder  un- 
der the  impact  of  a  monstrous  triphammer. 

Germany,  they  say,  already  has  two  frontiers  to  de- 
fend, and  before  long  she  may  have  three.  Germany 
must  keep  half  her  army  in  the  east  to  resist  the  Rus- 
sians, half  of  it  in  the  west  to  oppose  the  French  and 
English;  and  at  the  same  time  Germany  must  make 


shift  to  send  hundreds  of  thousands  of  soldiers  to 
Austria.  Worst  of  all,  argue  the  French,  Germany 
must  equip  with  seasoned  officers  the  Turkish  troops 
and  fortifications,  and  sprinkle  a  goodly  number  of 
officers  among  the  Austrians.  Moreover,  the  British 
fleet  is  in  absolute  command  of  every  water  approach 
to  Germany  from  the  north,  and  the  French  fleet  per- 
forms a  like  service  upon  the  Mediterranean.  In  short, 
the  French  contend  that  not  only  is  Germany  sur- 
rounded, but  by  forces  that  are  irresistible  in  numbers, 
and  in  wealth. 

Here  is  a  characteristic  summary  of  this  reasoning 
afforded  by  a  careful  French  authority: 

Resources 

GERMANS  AND  AUSTRIANS  ALLIES 

Men:  Twelve  to  fifteen  mil-  Twenty  to  twenty-five  mil- 
lion, lion. 

Money:  German  bank  notes  French  bank  notes  gaining  on 
losing  on  exchange.  exchange. 

War  Materials:    Blockaded.  Inexhaustible. 

Foodstuffs:   Blockaded.  Inexhaustible. 

Undoubtedly  France  is  counting  heavily  upon  enor- 
mous reinforcements  of  men  from  England.  And  she 
has  earned  the  right  to  expect  this  aid ;  for,  at  least  up 
to  the  present  time,  March,  1915,  the  French  have 
been  doing  by  far  the  greatest  part  of  the  fighting 
in  the  western  theater  of  the  war — how  much  one 
can  grasp  in  an  instant  by  examining  the  battle 
line  over  four  hundred  miles  long,  every  foot  of 
which  has  been  and  is  being  held  by  the  French  except 


FRANCE   IN   ARMS  267 

a  comparatively  small  space  of  thirty  or  thirty-five 
miles. 

Consider  now  the  French  strength,  apart  from  that 
of  the  Allies.  While  no  official  or  other  dependable 
figures  of  French  losses  are  to  be  had  from  any  source, 
yet  there  is  basis  for  an  estimate  which  would  seem  to 
be  reasonable.  A  French  gentleman,  who  is  believed 
to  be  entirely  reliable,  furnished  the  information  that, 
up  to  February  1,  1915,  the  French  returned  to  the 
Germans  eight  hundred  and  forty  prisoners  so  badly 
wounded  as  to  be  incapacitated  for  any  further  service 
in  the  war;  and  in  exchange  for  these  the  Germans 
returned  to  France  sixteen  hundred  French  prisoners 
in  similar  condition.  From  this  data  it  would  seem  to 
be  a  fair  inference  that  the  French  losses  up  to  the  end 
of  January,  1915,  were  virtually  twice  as  great  as  the 
German  losses  on  the  western  front ;  and  this,  it  is  sur- 
mised, is  informed  French  opinion. 

This  French  estimate  does  not  take  into  account  un- 
wounded  French  prisoners.  Up  to  January  1,  1915, 
according  to  German  railway  statistics,  Germany  had 
taken  prisoner  two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  un- 
wounded  French  soldiers,  who  were  then  in  numerous 
prison  camps  throughout  Germany;  whereas  the  num- 
ber of  unwounded  German  soldiers  taken  prisoner  by 
the  French  must  have  been  very  small  in  comparison. 
For  while  no  figures  on  this  point  were  obtainable  in 
France,  the  total  number  of  soldiers,  prisoners  and 
missing,  from  the  German  side  on  January  1,  1915, 
amounted  to  only  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  thousand 
men  all  told  and  on  both  fronts,  according  to  German 
estimate. 


268     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

The  only  other  basis  from  which  French  losses  may 
be  surmised  is  a  French  estimate  that  France  needs 
one  hundred  thousand  new  men  every  month.  As  in 
the  case  with  the  German  wounded,  at  least  sixty  per 
cent,  of  the  French  wounded  recover  sufficiently  to  re- 
turn to  the  front. 

To  supply  the  men  needed  France  has  an  astonishing 
store  of  soldier  material.  At  the  date  of  this  writing, 
March,  1915,  France  has  two  million  men  on  the  battle 
line.  Behind  these,  she  has  in  waiting  about  one  million 
eight  hundred  thousand  more  trained  soldiers.  These 
are  gathered  in  military  depots  or  camps  located  con- 
veniently near  the  front.  There  are  two  hundred  and 
ten  of  these  reservoirs  of  men  for  infantry  alone. 

In  case  of  emergency  there  can  be  added  to  these 
nine  hundred  thousand  additional  men  between  the 
ages  of  thirty-nine  and  forty-five;  to  these  could  be 
added  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  of  the  class 
of  1916  and  the  same  number  of  the  class  of  1917; 
these  would  be  youths  of  seventeen  to  eighteen  years 
of  age,  respectively. 

France's  financial  resources  would  seem  to  be  very 
large.  The  Bank  of  France  reports  a  gold  reserve  of 
four  billion  francs;  and  that  institution  estimates 
that  the  people  have  in  their  stockings  the  same  amount 
of  gold.  It  would  appear  that  this  estimate  is  generous 
in  view  of  the  extremely  heavy  investments  which  the 
French  people  have  made  in  Russia.  The  inability  of 
South  American  countries  to  pay  their  vast  obligations 
incurred  on  account  of  extensive  French  investments 
in  that  quarter  caused  a  temporary  disturbance  in  cer- 


FRANCE    IN    ARMS  269 

tain  banking  circles;  but  it  is  not  believed  that  this  has 
produced  serious  embarrassment. 

Like  all  other  warring  countries,  except  Germany, 
France  declared  a  moratorium  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war.  From  the  very  first,  however,  the  banks  paid 
two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  plus  five  per  cent,  of  the 
balance  of  the  deposit.  This  proportion  was  gradually 
increased,  and  at  the  time  of  this  writing,  it  is  fifty  per 
cent,  of  deposits;  but  from  the  beginning  of  the  year 
the  greater  banks  paid  all  deposits  in  full.  Also,  these 
larger  financial  institutions  resumed  the  payment  of 
dividends,  which  had  been  suspended  from  the  outbreak 
of  the  war.  These  bigger  and  solider  banks  at  first  paid 
to  their  employees  who  were  called  to  the  colors,  full 
salaries  if  married  and  half  salaries  if  unmarried;  but 
beginning  with  1915  the  salaries  of  their  fighting  mar- 
ried employees  were  reduced.  The  reason  of  this  prob- 
ably was  that  the  government  pays  the  wives  of  soldiers 
one  and  twenty-five  hundredths  francs  per  day  (twen- 
ty-five cents)  and  fifty  centimes  (10  cents)  per  day  for 
each  child. 

Business  in  France  does  not  reflect  the  apparently 
excellent  financial  condition  of  the  country.  Conversa- 
tions with  thoroughly  informed  and  careful  business 
men  indicated  that  French  business  is  for  the  time  be- 
ing paralyzed.  "It  is  badly  shattered,"  said  a  sub- 
stantial French  business  man.  "It  is  practically  sus- 
pended," was  the  opinion  of  the  expert  of  a  great  house 
whose  duty  it  is  to  keep  accurately  posted  on  this  vital 
subject. 

"Would  you  say  that  business  generally  is  fifty  per 


270     WHAT   IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

cent,  normal?"  was  one  question  asked  of  a  thoroughly 
informed  French  business  man. 

"No;  nor  anywhere  near  it." 

"Forty  per  cent.  ?" 

"No." 

"Twenty-five  per  cent.  ?" 

"Hardly— perhaps." 

"You  see,"  another  informant  explained,  "most  of 
our  plants  are  practically  idle  because  their  forces  are 
in  the  army,  except,  of  course,  those  engaged  in  mak- 
ing war  materials.  Then,  too,  you  must  remember 
that  the  richest  part  of  the  country — our  principal  tex- 
tile district,  our  best  mining  district  and  among  our 
largest  metal  works,  our  most  fertile  agricultural  re- 
gion— is  in  the  hands  of  the  Germans." 

It  was  the  estimate  of  these  gentlemen  that  it  will 
take  from  three  to  five  years  after  the  war  ends  to 
make  French  industry  normal  again.  The  deteriora- 
tion of  unused  machinery,  the  difficulty  of  reorganiz- 
ing working  staffs,  the  supposed  destruction  of  plants, 
and  the  other  effects  of  war  upon  industry,  form  the 
ground  of  this  unhappy  view  of  the  future. 

All  this  does  not  in  the  least  cool  the  ardor  of 
French  spirit  nor  soften  the  hardness  of  French  deter- 
mination, so  far  as  this  could  be  judged  by  conversa- 
tions with  those  personally  consulted.  The  only  doubt 
upon  this  point  was  that  already  referred  to,  of  re- 
ported indications  of  weariness  of  the  war  on  the  part 
of  the  bourgeoisie,  and  their  eagerness  to  get  to  mak- 
ing money  again. 

But  personal  investigation  did  not  confirm  this  re- 
port. On  the  contrary  all  French  men  and  women 


FRANCE   IN   ARMS  271 

personally  talked  to  displayed  a  determination  quite 
equal  to  that  found  in  Germany,  and  much  fiercer  and 
more  vivid  in  expression;  yet  this  talk  is  not  strident, 
loud,  or  boastful,  but  instead  tense,  quiet  and  desperate. 
It  is  reasonably  safe  to  say  that  at  the  very  least  the 
French  are  an  absolute  unit  in  their  resolve  to  drive  the 
Germans  from  French  territory,  take  back  the  lost 
provinces  and  secure,  for  France,  a  permanent  peace, 
and  that  to  these  ends  pauper  and  millionaire  are  as 
one  man,  ready  to  sacrifice  fortune  and  life. 

Also,  it  should  be  said  upon  the  issue  of  supporting 
the  war,  political  parties  have  merged  into  one,  al- 
though on  other  questions  there  still  are,  it  was  said, 
party  divisions.  In  the  early  part  of  March,  1915,  the 
government  was  attacked  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
because  Paris  was  kept  under  martial  law.  Such  nag- 
ging as  this  promises  to  be  not  infrequent;  but  it  does 
not  mean  that  there  is  any  division  in  prosecuting  the 
war.  While  the  form  of  parliamentary  government  is 
observed,  yet  at  bottom  France,  one  was  informed,  is 
under  a  military  dictatorship.  "What  Joffre  says 
goes,"  was  the  statement  of  one  of  the  most  competent 
and  dependable  Americans  whose  home  is  in  France. 
It  appears  that  the  commander-in-chief  indicates  what 
is  necessary;  the  government  takes  measures  accord- 
ingly; and  parliament  sustains  the  government. 

It  is  among  the  higher  classes,  however,  that  the 
French  spirit  burns  brightest  and  with  purest  flame. 
Within  the  intellectual  circles  especially  does  this  patri- 
otic fire  blaze  in  its  noblest  radiance.  It  is  quite  im- 
possible to  overstate  the  exalted  ardor  of  these  French 
men  and  women.  If  their  heart  and  soul  are  those  of 


272     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

the  whole  French  people;  if  the  bon  bourgeois  feels  as 
deeply  as  the  descendant  of  the  old  nobility;  if  in 
the  peasant's  mind  there  is  the  militant  resolve  which 
dwells  in  the  mind  of  the  French  scholar;  if  the  emo- 
tion of  working  man  and  tradesman  is  as  deep  and  sim- 
ple as  that  of  the  French  philosopher  and  thinker,  then 
indeed  is  France  embattled  for  a  war  to  the  uttermost. 
Certain  it  is  that  for  the  immediate  object  of  expelling 
the  invader  from  French  soil,  the  valor  of  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  French  troops  has  written  an  immortal 
record. 


XI 

FRENCH  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — I 

Statesmen,  Scholar  and  Philosopher 

THE  following  conversations  reflect  French 
thought  as  it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
month  of  the  war.  They  present  what  may  be  called 
the  statesmen's  view  as  to  the  basic  cause  of  the  con- 
flict ;  and  also  what  should  be  termed  the  popular  opin- 
ion of  the  source  of  the  struggle.*  The  same  method 
was  followed  as  in  the  talks  with  representatives  of 


*  The  first  of  these  opinions  was  that  the  maintenance  of  the 
balance  of  power  in  Europe  was  necessary  to  the  self-respecting 
dignity,  importance  and  even  safety  of  the  various  continental 
nations  which  are  known  to  the  world  as  first  Powers.  This, 
declared  French  statesmen,  was  being  disturbed  by  the  growing 
strength  of  Germany  united  with  what  the  French  call  her  ag- 
gressiveness. It  was  to  maintain,  said  French  statesmen,  this 
principle  that  the  English-French-Russian  arrangement  called  the 
Triple  Entente  was  made. 

The  popular  view,  held  also  by  the  intellectual  circles,  was  that 
Germany  had  designs  upon  the  territorial  integrity  of  France. 
Germany  said  these  Frenchmen,  who  voiced  this  view,  had  in- 
tended for  a  long  time  to  seize  portions  of  French  territory. 
What  the  French  asserted  to  be  Germany's  arrogant  and  even 
militant  bearing  ever  since  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  excited 
French  imagination.  "We  have  been  living  in  apprehension  for 
years,"  was  a  common  expression  of  the  feeling  of  many  thought- 
ful Frenchmen. 

French  belief  seemed  to  be  that  if  France  had  let  Germany  de- 
feat Russia,  Germany  then  would  have  crushed  France.  So  that 
while,  of  course,  France's  alliance  with  Russia  bound  France  in 

273 


274     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

various  classes  in  Germany  and  the  same  types  of  men 
were  selected. 

Out  of  a  number  of  conversations  the  following 
have  been  chosen  as  giving  the  current  of  French 
thought  as  it  was  expressed  during  the  last  week  of 
February  and  the  first  week  of  March,  1915.  Each 
of  the  conversations  here  narrated  was  written  out  and 
submitted  to  the  gentleman  interviewed,  who  very 
carefully  verified  the  same,  making  such  changes  as 
he  desired  and  authorized  publication. 

A  French  Statesman's  Exposition 

"The  deep  cause  of  the  war  is  the  effort  to  main- 
tain the  equilibrium  of  Europe,"  said  one  of  the  most 
eminent  statesmen  of  France,  whose  name  I  am  not 
permitted  to  give,  but  whose  word  is  weighty.  "This 
is  the  principle  that  no  one  Power  shall  become  so 
strong  as  to  disturb  the  equilibrium  of  the  Powers. 
In  other  words,  that  no  one  nation  shall  be  the  first, 
or  dominating,  Power. 

"I  have  seen  this  war  coming  for  a  great  many 
years,"  he  continued.  "Germany  was  growing  so 

honor  to  come  to  Russia's  aid,  the  French  idea  of  what  the 
French  believed  to  be  their  self-preservation  was  an  equally  com- 
pelling force  driving  France  into  battle.  Publicist,  scholar  and 
thinker  entertained  these  views  as  well  as  holding  the  additional 
opinion  concerning  the  equilibrium  of  Europe,  already  mentioned. 
Back  of  both  the  statesmen's  and  the  popular  view  and  power- 
fully effecting  both  was  the  French  resentment  for  the  taking  of 
Alsace-Lorraine  and  the  purpose,  dormant  in  recent  years  but 
never  dead,  to  recover  those  provinces.  In  the  minds  of  the 
majority  of  the  common  people,  especially  the  peasants,  it  seemed 
probable  that  this,  together  with  the  presence  of  the  enemy  on 
French  soil,  were  the  master  thoughts  which  caused  them  to  fly 
to  arms  willingly. 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  275 

strong  as  to  disturb  or  threaten  the  equilibrium  of 
Europe.  That  fact  is  the  greatest  reason  for  the 
Triple  Entente.  France  and  England  began  to  under- 
stand each  other.  They  found  that  their  interests  were 
not  antagonistic,  but  reciprocal. 

"Common  commercial  dealings  was  the  first  step  to 
this  understanding.  England  and  France  were  heavy 
purchasers  one  of  the  other.  For  instance,  France 
does  not  produce  enough  coal  for  her  own  use,  and 
therefore  bought  her  extra  supply  from  England;  and 
England  bought  great  quantities  of  products  such  as 
foodstuffs  and  objects  of  art  and  luxuries  from 
France.  But  England  bought  over  one  billion  francs' 
worth  of  products  from  France  more  than  France 
bought  from  England.  On  the  other  hand,  the  trade 
between  Germany  and  England  nearly  balanced. 

"It  was  chiefly  to  carry  out  the  great  principle  of 
the  equilibrium  of  Europe  that  the  Russian  alliance 
was  made.  Of  course,  the  conditions  which  produced 
the  entente  grew  stronger  all  the  time,  and  the  Russian 
alliance  fitted  into  this  entente  perfectly." 

"I  have  heard  it  said,"  I  observed,  "that  it  was 
England's  traditional  policy,  running  back  as  far  as 
the  Spanish  supremacy,  to  oppose  that  continental  na- 
tion which  showed  the  greatest  strength — first  Spain, 
then  France,  then  Russia  and  even  Holland  in  between. 
Is  that  the  source  of  England's  opposition  to  Germany 
now?"  I  inquired. 

"Well,  why  not?"  quickly  answered  the  French 
statesman,  arid  continued,  "Why  is  it  not  the  wise  pol- 
icy on  England's  part  to  see  that  no  one  nation  be- 
comes dominant  ?  That  is  simply  maintaining  the  equi- 


librium  of  Europe.  That  is  the  great  central  principle. 
No  one  nation  on  the  continent  must  become  so  strong 
that  it  threatens  the  position  of  other  nations  as  first 
Powers.  The  idea  is  that  such  an  equilibrium  shall  be 
maintained  that  all  can  live  peacefully. 

"The  real  reason  of  the  conflict  is  to  maintain  the 
equilibrium  of  Europe,  which  the  growing  power  of 
Germany  is  disturbing.  Then  Germany's  conduct  has 
been  irritating;  there  has  always  been  the  rattling  of 
the  saber,  and  speeches  by  the  Kaiser  about  his  powder 
being  always  dry.  It  is  just  like  a  man  going  about 
the  streets  heavily  armed,  with  pistols  and  knives 
sticking  out  all  over  him.  Well,  you  pay  no  attention 
to  him.  But  when  he  begins  to  swagger  and  talk 
about  using  them,  peaceable  people  get  together  to  take 
measures  to  see  that  he  keeps  the  peace." 

"But  suppose  Germany,  or  any  other  one  nation,  did 
become  the  leading  Power  of  Europe,"  I  asked,  "how 
would  that  hurt  the  French  people  in  their  industry 
and  lives?" 

"It  would  not,  perhaps,  in  that  respect.  But  the 
point  is  that  with  Germany  the  first  Power  of  Europe, 
France  could  no  longer  be  one  of  the  first  Powers  of 
Europe.  She  would  be  one  of  the  secondary  Powers. 
Of  course,  Germany  might  grow  as  big  as  she  liked; 
but  her  threatening  attitude  menaced  our  position  as 
one  of  the  first  Powers  of  Europe. 

"But  to  get  back  to  the  origin  of  the  entente,  not 
only  did  it  grow  out  of  economic  conditions  between 
England  and  France,  but  also  out  of  colonial  policy. 
Both  France  and  England  found  that  they  could  agree 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  277 

as  to  their  spheres  of  colonial  activity.  Neither  stood 
in  the  way  of  the  other.  This  was  a  very  important 
ground  of  the  mutual  understanding  which  first  made 
the  foundations  for  the  entente.  This  mutual  inter- 
est grew  out  of  what  at  first  seemed  very  irritating 
circumstances.  But  these  very  incidents,  such  as  the 
Fashoda  affair,  made  it  clear  to  both  countries  how 
friction  could  be  avoided — that  France  could  drop  out 
here  and  England  could  drop  out  there,  each  keeping 
out  of  the  other's  way. 

"Russia's  entering  the  entente  came  about  in  the 
same  manner.  The  Franco-Russian  alliance  laid  the 
ground  for  it,  of  course.  But  the  Dogger  Bank  inci- 
dent, which  threatened  war,  really  was  the  occasion 
for  the  same  policy  of  understanding  which  had  grown 
up  between  France  and  England.  France  pointed  out 
to  both  England  and  Russia  that  the  interests  of  all 
were  common  and  that  the  Dogger  Bank  incident 
ought  to  be  composed.  And  that  very  thing  was  done 
right  here  in  Paris.  This  led  to  an  understanding  be- 
tween Russia  and  England  as  to  their  relative  posses- 
sions and  interests  in  Asia.  Such  is  the  general  out- 
line of  the  entente,  whose  reason  for  existence  is  to 
maintain  the  equilibrium  of  Europe,  and  whose  imme- 
diate object  was  to  see  that  the  growing  strength  and 
threatening  attitude  of  Germany  did  not  upset  that 
equilibrium.  Not  only  did  Germany's  growing 
strength  make  the  entente  necessary,  but  this  was  made 
still  greater  by  the  Triple  Alliance,  which  Bismarck 
formed  for  Germany's  protection.  He  first  got  Aus- 
tria on  the  ground  of  'Germanism,'  there  being  much 


278     WHAT   IS   BACK ,  OF   THE   WAR 

in  common  between  the  two  in  race  and  language. 
Then  he  got  even  Italy." 

Let  us  turn  now  to  unofficial  French  opinion. 

The  French  Scholar  and  Publicist 

Gabriel  Hanotaux  is  known  throughout  the  world 
as  one  of  the  first  intellects  of  France  and  one  of  her 
ripest  scholars.  He  was  for  many  years  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  and  still  earlier  one  of  the  construct- 
ive minds  which  shaped  the  destinies  of  modern 
France.  For  example,  Hanotaux  was  the  father  of 
the  Franco-Russian  alliance.  A  letter  from  an  inti- 
mate mutual  friend  was  the  means  of  the  following 
notable  conversation. 

Monsieur  Hanotaux  is  a  man  of  great  vigor,  phy- 
sically and  mentally,  although  past  middle  age.  He  is 
direct,  simple,  outspoken.  He  states  his  points  clearly 
and  with  great  emphasis. 

Asked  what  was  really  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
Monsieur  Hanotaux  answered: 

"You  will  find  the  roots  of  it  in  the  great  wrong 
Germany  did  when  she  took  Alsace  and  Lorraine  by 
force.  With  us  it  is  a  principle  that  no  territory  shall 
be  taken  whose  inhabitants  object.  The  inhabitants  of 
Alsace  and  Lorraine  did  object.  Their  consent  was 
not  asked.  Thus  a  vital  principle  was  violated." 

"But,"  I  remarked,  "did  not  France  violate  that 
same  principle  in  acquiring  her  colonies  and  posses- 
sions, such  as  Morocco,  Algiers  and  others?" 

"That  is  not  the  same  thing,"  answered  Monsieur 
Hanotaux.  "In  countries  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  whose 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  279 

people  not  only  are  not  civilized,  but  are  a  constant 
source  of  danger  to  their  neighbors,  the  principle  does 
not  apply.  Take,  for  example,  your  own  case.  Serious 
trouble  broke  out  on  the  frontiers  of  Mexico — " 

"Oh,  spare  me  Mexico,"  I  observed.  "You  mean 
that  France  has  done  with  her  colonies  and  possessions 
just  as  we  have  done  in  the  Philippines?" 

"Yes,  that  is  a  good  example.  And  you  took  other 
territory  in  the  same  way." 

"Oh,  yes,"  I  admitted;  "we  took  some  of  our  terri- 
tory that  way." 

"Well,"  said  Monsieur  Hanotaux,  "the  taking  of 
Alsace  and  Lorraine  by  force  was  not  at  all  that  sort  of 
thing.  It  was  just  as  if  the  Japanese  should  take  Cali- 
fornia and  your  Pacific  coast.  Would  you  submit  to  it  ? 
Would  you  forget  it  ?  Would  you  not  want  it  back  ?" 

"We  certainly  should,"  I  admitted.  "But,  of 
course,  Alsace  and  Lorraine  was  not  the  present  cause 
of  this  terrible  conflict." 

"No,  certainly  not,"  answered  Monsieur  Hanotaux, 
"France  has  been  most  patient  these  last  forty  years, 
and  that  in  spite  of  the  violent  aggressiveness  of  Ger- 
many in  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  She  would  have  been 
patient  even  longer.  I  gave  that  only  as  an  example 
of  what  lies  at  the  root  of  all  the  trouble  which  Ger- 
man ambition  has  brought  upon  the  world.  But  let 
us  now  come  to  more  immediate  causes  of  the  war. 

"The  whole  policy  of  Germany  was  changed  by  the 
Emperor's  announcement  of  Germany's  idea  of  'Welt- 
politik.'  You  may  read  it  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
period — the  speeches  of  the  Kaiser  and  of  his  Chan- 
cellor, Von  Buelow.  Germany's  population  had 


280     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

grown  so  great  that  they  felt  that  more  territory  was 
needed.  This  meant  colonies,  and  colonies  meant  a 
fleet.  So  Germany  began  to  build  up  a  fleet,  a  navy 
which  she  hoped  to  make  the  greatest  in  the  world. 
As  to  colonies,  Germany  was  entitled  to  them  as  much 
as  any  other  country.  But  she  was  too  late.  The 
best  parts  of  the  earth  were  taken  already;  so  her  idea 
of  colonial  expansion  was  impossible.  Thereupon  she 
resolved,  to  employ  Bernhardi's  expression,  to  take 
what  belonged  to  others.  This  is  shown  clearly  by 
what  actually  happened.  First,  she  tried  China.  She 
got  a  foothold  there.  Indeed,  her  dream  was  the  con- 
quest of  China.  That,  of  course,  brought  her  in  con- 
flict with  Japan.  So  she  failed  there.  The  next 
route  of  expansion  for  Germany  was  to  become  the 
heir  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  as  well  as,  through  Tur- 
key, to  reach  the  Persian  Gulf.  So  she  cultivated 
Turkey.  But  how  should  she  get  to  Turkey  ?  Through 
Austria,  of  course.  And  so  began  the  policy  of  pene- 
tration into  the  Balkans.  Of  this  Servia  stood  in  the 
way.  So  Servia  must  be  made  a  victim.  Thus  war 
was  declared  in  reality  long  before  the  Austrian  Arch- 
duke was  assassinated — indeed,  as  far  back  as  August, 
1913,  as  Monsieur  Giolitti's  revelations  prove,  when 
Austria  decided  to  dispose  of  Servia — Servia  was  to 
be  subjugated  by  Austria.  And  thus,  with  the  Bagdad 
railway  in  her  hands,  Germany's  course  was  open  all 
the  way  to  the  Persian  Gulf. 

"As  a  part  of  this  plan  came  Germany's  courting  of 
the  Moslem  peoples.  You  recall,  for  example,  the 
Emperor's  dramatic  journey  to  Jerusalem?  So  much 
for  the  Balkans.  But  everywhere,  throughout  the 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  281 

world,  this  'Weltpolitik'  was  equally  aggressive,  as 
numerous  other  circumstances  of  the  same  kind  illus- 
trate. Now  just  see  how  all  this  Germany  policy, 
which  she  calls  'Weltpolitik,'  came  into  direct  conflict 
with  each  of  the  Allies,  one  after  another,  making  each 
of  them  antagonistic  to  her. 

"First  take  France.  There  was  the  Morocco  affair. 
The  state  of  anarchy  in  that  country  forced  us,  as  the 
nearest  neighbors,  to  take  a  hand.  But  the  Kaiser 
went  to  Morocco  and  made  a  speech  in  which  he  said 
that  Germany  recognized  no  other  authority  than  the 
Sultan  of  Morocco,  the  native  authority.  Now,  France 
is  peaceful — above  all  things,  France  is  peaceful. 
Therefore,  in  a  sense,  France  backed  down  in  the  Mo- 
rocco affair,  just  to  keep  the  peace.  But  Germany 
increased  her  aggressiveness.  There  came  the  Agadir 
incident.  Once  more  Germany  interfered.  A  German 
warship  was  sent  to  Agadir,  and  threats  were  made. 
Under  these  threats  France  again  gave  way — just  to 
keep  peace.  And  so  also  France  gave  up  part  of  her 
Kongo  territory  in  Africa  to  Germany,  although  Ger- 
many had  no  right  to  it.  Again  France  did  this  solely 
for  the  sake  of  peace.  And  yet  all  the  time  Germany 
was  stirring  up  trouble  with  the  Moslems  of  these  parts 
of  the  world;  there  was  constant  turmoil,  for  which 
Germany  only  was  responsible.  These  are  examples  of 
the  conflict  with  France  of  Germany's  theory  of  terri- 
torial expansion. 

"Second,  see  how  this  German  theory  of  expansion 
impinged  on  Russia.  Russia,  defeated  at  Mukden, 
torn  by  internal  dissensions,  wished  no  external  com- 
plications. Everybody  has  known  for  years  that  she 


282     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

desired  to  reach  the  sea.  Constantinople  was  her  nat- 
ural objective,  as  well  as  the  Persian  Gulf.  But  again 
Germany  interfered  with  the  Bagdad  railway.  By  this 
she  could  get  to  the  Persian  Gulf.  This  Bagdad  rail- 
way cut  Russia  off  from  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  Ger- 
many's domination  of  Turkey  cut  Russia  off  from 
Constantinople  and  the  Mediterranean.  Finally,  in 
order  to  control  the  Balkans,  Germany  plotted  the  de- 
struction of  Servia,  a  little  Slav  country,  protected  by 
Russia.  You  see  from  these  examples  how  Germany's 
plan  of  expansion  brought  her  into  conflict  with  Rus- 
sia, just  as  the  Moroccan,  Agadir  and  other  instances 
are  examples  of  how  Germany's  policy  of  expansion 
brought  her  into  conflict  with  France. 

"Third,  Germany's  conflict  with  England.  Eng- 
land was  and  is,  like  every  commercial  people,  peace- 
loving,  just  as  France  and  Russia  are  peace-loving. 
The  proof  of  this  is  before  all  men's  eyes  to-day.  For 
ten  years  England  has  been  governed  by  the  Liberal 
party.  This  party  wanted  no  war  with  anybody  about 
anything.  The  whole  policy  of  the  English  Liberal 
party  was  peace  with  the  outside  world,  because  it 
needed  this  peace  to  effect  its  own  internal  reforms. 
Let  me  prove  England's  peaceful  intentions.  She 
has  had  no  land  army  to  speak  of,  and  she  would  not 
increase  it.  On  the  other  hand,  Germany  has  built  up 
an  immense  army  and  constantly  increased  it.  That 
shows  conclusively  the  peaceful  intentions  of  England 
and  the  warlike  intentions  of  Germany." 

"Do  you  include  the  navy  in  this  reasoning?"  I  in- 
terrupted. 

"The  navy,"  answered  Monsieur  Hanotaux,  "is  a 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  283 

different  thing  altogether.    England  needs  her  navy  for 
her  own  defense." 

"But  England's  navy,"  I  observed,  "is  as  large  as 
that  of  any  two  other  Powers  combined.  Is  not  this 
England's  naval  principle?  Our  Admiral  Mahan,  in 
his  book  on  sea  power,  points  out  that  England's  naval 
superiority  has  given  her  a  dominant  position  for  more 
than  an  hundred  years,  if  I  remember  correctly,"  I 
suggested. 

"You  must  remember  that  England  does  not  feed 
herself  from  within,"  explained  Monsieur  Hanotaux. 
"She  must  get  her  food  from  abroad.  Thus  a  great 
navy  is  essential.  I  have  already  referred  to  Germany's 
navy.  But  let  us  now  take  up  where  Germany's 
'Weltpolitik'  conflicted  with  England's  interests,  as 
I  have  pointed  out  the  collision  of  Germany's  'Welt- 
politik' with  the  interests  of  France  and  Russia. 
Twenty  years  ago  the  German  Emperor  said  to  Gen- 
eral Obrontcheff,  then  Chief  of  the  Russian  General 
Staff :  'I  shall  sign  the  peace  of  the  world  in  London.' 
I  quote  his  exact  words.  I  have  published  that  in  my 
book  on  the  Policy  of  Equilibrium.  The  Emperor 
also  said  in  substance  that  Germany  must  get  rid  of 
England.  Having  failed  in  the  Chinese  and  Turkish 
adventures,  Germany's  colonial  policy  was  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  richest  colonies  in  the  world,  which 
are  those  of  Holland,  Belgium  and  France.  With 
these,  Germany  would  be  a  dangerous  rival  of  Eng- 
land. But  let  me  here  give  you  a  further  example  of 
England's  peaceful  intentions — I  mean  the  visits  of 
Lord  Haldane  and  Mr.  Lloyd  George  to  Germany. 
Both  made  speeches  about  England's  friendship  for 


Germany;  Mr.  Lloyd  George  was  especially  emphatic. 
So  deeply  was  this  impression  made  in  Germany  that 
Herr  von  Jagow,  the  German  Minister  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  said  how  surprised  Germany  was  when  Eng- 
land came  into  this  war.  If  he  had  thought  a  little 
upon  these  facts  which  I  have  been  reviewing  for  you 
he  might  not  have  been  so  surprised." 

"Do  you  think  that  Germany  intended  to  acquire 
French,  Belgian  and  Dutch  colonies  as  a  result  of  this 
war?"  I  asked. 

"Why,  of  course !"  answered  Monsieur  Hanotaux. 
"And  here  is  the  proof:  The  German  Ambassador  to 
Great  Britain  naively  remarked  to  Sir  Edward  Grey 
that  that  was  just  what  Germany  did  want !" 

"So  it  is  French  opinion  that  Germany  had  a  defi- 
nite and  far-reaching  aggressive  program  for  war,  is 
it?"  I  inquired. 

"Certainly !"  answered  Monsieur  Hanotaux.  "Ger- 
many expected  to  dispose  of  Russia  first,  France  next, 
and  then  attack  England  separately.  After  England  it 
would  have  been  your  turn.  Germany  would  have 
attacked  the  United  States  next.  I  speak  of  what  I 
know.  The  German  Emperor  has  declared  more  than 
twenty  times  that  he  intended  to  attack  the  United 
States." 

"What  would  the  Emperor  expect  to  gain  by  attack- 
ing the  United  States?"  I  remarked. 

"I  haven't  any  idea,"  said  Monsieur  Hanotaux.  "All 
I  know  is  that  he  did  make  the  statement,  twenty  times 
at  least.  With  a  little  trouble,  I  could  look  up  and  cite 
you  the  occasions.  But  as  I  was  saying,  an  evidence 
of  England's  peaceful  intentions  is  before  us  in  this 


FRENCH    THOUGHT  285 

war,  for  England  would  never  have  come  into  this 
war,  save  for  the  violation  of  Belgian  neutrality.  In 
fact,  going  into  the  war  at  all  worried  England  a  great 
deal,  and  we,  too,  were  worried  for  fear  she  would 
not  do  so." 

"It  has  been  published,"  said  I,  "that  an  arrange- 
ment was  made  by  England,  France  and  Belgium  un- 
der which  England  and  France  were  to  invade  Ger- 
many through  Belgium  in  case  of  war ;  and  it  is  claimed 
that  this  had  already  violated  Belgian  neutrality." 

"So  far  as  France  is  concerned,  I  can  speak  per- 
sonally, for  I  have  been  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
and  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about,"  asserted  Mon- 
sieur Hanotaux.  "I  give  you  my  word  of  honor  that 
so  far  as  France  is  concerned,  no  such  transaction  ever 
took  place.  Indeed,  the  documents  themselves  do  not 
pretend  to  involve  France.  But  what  do  these  docu- 
ments amount  to  ?  Just  a  conversation  between  the  Brit- 
ish military  attache  and  somebody  in  the  Belgian  gov- 
ernment! It  is  not  even  claimed  that  this  reached  the 
form  of  a  treaty.  And  even  this  conversation  touched 
only  on  the  case  where  Germany  should  first  have  in- 
vaded Belgium!" 

"How  long  will  the  war  last,  Monsieur  Hanotaux  ?" 

"A  fortnight  ago,"  Monsieur  Hanotaux  answered, 
"I  thought  the  war  would  last  a  year,  perhaps  a  year 
and  a  half.  To-day  I  think  it  will  not  last  so  long." 

"What  has  changed  your  mind  in  this  short  time  ?" 
I  asked. 

"The  impending  fall  of  Constantinople,"*  said  Mon- 
sieur Hanotaux.  "When  that  occurs,  which  will  be 


*  This  conversation  occurred  March  1,  1915. 


286     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

soon,  the  circle  of  iron  will  be  closed  about  Germany. 
The  Balkan  States  and  Italy  will  join  the  Allies.  That, 
of  course,  will  hasten  the  inevitable  end,  which  will  be 
the  defeat  of  Germany." 

"In  case  the  Allies  are  successful,  what  terms  will 
they  impose  on  Germany  ?" 

"Ask  Monsieur  Delcasse!  I  am  not  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs !" 

The  Prophet  of  the  New  Philosophy 

A  quiet  old  house,  far  back  from  the  street,  with  a 
still  garden  between  to  protect  it  from  the  unfrequent 
noise  of  the  most  quiet  corner  of  Auteuil,  the  calmest 
suburb  of  Paris,  is  the  abode  of  Monsieur  Henri  Berg- 
son,  the  noted  French  philosopher.  It  is  just  the  home 
for  a  thinker.  There,  at  luncheon,  we  discussed  the 
war. 

Monsieur  Bergson  justifies  his  reputation  by  his  ap- 
pearance. The  long,  thin,  intellectual  face;  the  expan- 
sive brow ;  most  of  all  the  large  blue  eyes,  whose  lights 
reflect  keenness,  mysticism  and  kindness — indeed,  the 
whole  personality  of  the  man,  gives  one  the  impres- 
sion of  great  mental  acuteness,  mingled  with  poetic 
idealism.  Monsieur  Bergson  is  perhaps  the  best  repre- 
sentative of  intellectual  France. 

"It  is  all  so  simple  to  us — the  cause  of  this  awful 
war;  at  least  the  immediate  cause  of  it,"  said  France's 
great  philosopher.  "That  cause  is  Germany's  policy 
of  aggression.  This  policy  grew  out  of  a  few  funda- 
mental facts.  For  example,  her  population  had  be- 
come so  very  great  that  Germany  felt  the  need  of  ex- 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  287 

paneling.  She  must  have  an  outlet.  France,  and 
France's  colonies,  was  to  be  the  first  victim.  Indeed, 
Germany  has  felt  this  for  a  long  time.  We  knew  it, 
too.  That  was  the  real  cause  of  the  Russian  alliance. 
Without  that,  we  should  have  had  to  stand  alone 
against  Germany." 

"Was  it  this  Russian  alliance  which  caused  France 
to  go  into  this  war?"  I  inquired. 

"That  was  an  incident  only,"  replied  the  French 
philosopher.  "The  real  cause  lay  far  deeper.  If  Ger- 
many had  made  war  on  Russia  and  won,  then  France 
would  have  come  next;  and  afterward  England.  As 
to  England,  there  was  an  economic  conflict. 

"But  I  am  perfectly  sure  that  England  would  never 
have  attacked  Germany.  If  she  had  meant  to  do  so, 
she  would  not  have  waited  so  long.  Even  now  the 
English  nation  would  not  have  consented  to  go  to  war 
if  it  had  not  been  that  they  felt  it  their  duty  toward 
Belgium.  On  the  contrary,  the  aim  of  Germany  was 
very  probably  to  attack  England  in  a  few  years  hence, 
and  that  is  one  of  the  main  reasons  of  the  present  war. 
Germany  wanted  to  crush  France  and  Russia  first,  so 
that  England  would  have  to  stand  alone  when  Ger- 
many had  completed  her  naval  arrangements  and  be- 
come strong  enough  to  attack  her." 

"We  Americans,"  I  observed,  "can  comprehend  the 
commercial  conflict  between  England  and  Germany. 
I  myself  saw  that  conflict  many  years  ago,  in  every 
visit  I  then  made  to  the  Orient.  It  was  plain  to  the 
naked  eye.  But  it  is  not  plain  to  us  why  Germany 
should  wish  to  wage  an  aggressive  war  against  either 
France  or  Russia.  We  do  not  see  the  economic  con- 


288     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

flict  between  Germany  and  France,  nor  between  Ger- 
many and  Russia.  So  we  do  not  see  the  reason  for 
Germany's  policy  of  aggression  against  those  two 
countries." 

"Yet  it  is  very  plain,"  answered  Monsieur  Bergson, 
"and  sordidly  material.  In  considering  it,  however,  let 
us  not  forget  Germany's  determination  to  be  the  domi- 
nant power  of  the  world.  That  is  psychological.  She 
wishes  to  be  first  in  everything;  to  lead  everything;  to 
direct  everything.  She  has  manifested  this  in  her 
threatening  attitude.  The  rattling  of  the  saber  and  the 
rolling  of  the  drum!" 

"But  to  us  Americans  who  do  not  understand  Euro- 
pean politics,  that  does  not  seem  substantial,"  I  urged. 
"Suppose  Germany,  or  France,  or  any  other  country 
claimed  to  be  the  'first  power  of  the  world;'  England 
did  that  for  a  long  while;  some  in  America  have 
dreamed  of  it,  as  the  destiny  of  our  own  country.  But 
what  of  it?  Let  any  country  strut  as  it  likes,  rattle 
the  saber,  beat  the  drum  and  wear  all  the  trappings  it 
wants  to — how  does  that  hurt  the  people  of  any  other 
country?  How  would  it  hurt  the  working  men  and 
business  men  of  America  if  France  should  do  that 
foolish  thing?  How  would  it  hurt  the  working  men, 
the  business  men  of  France  if  Germany  did  make  this 
empty  claim  to  primacy  and  it  was  accorded  her? 
Would  not  your  life  go  on  just  the  same?" 

"No,  indeed,"  answered  Monsieur  Bergson;  "and 
that  is  just  the  point.  Germany  would  follow  this  up 
with  war  upon  us,  just  as  she  is  making  now.  Then, 
even  if  she  took  no  territory,  would  come  the  imposi- 
tion of  German  goods  upon  us,  German  workmen 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  289 

would  take  the  place  of  our  workmen  here  in  France. 
German  business  would  take  the  place  of  French  busi- 
ness. Our  industry  would  go.  Germans  would  buy 
up  our  land;  France  would  go.  It  would  be  the  end 
of  France — the  end  of  our  ideas,  our  ideals,  our  cul- 
ture, our  civilization.  All  would  become  Germanized. 
So  if  you  look  at  it  only  from  the  material  and  eco- 
nomic side,  you  see  that  we  fight  not  only  for  physical 
existence  but,  what  is  far  more  important,  for  our  very 
civilization." 

"But  would  the  Germans  go  so  far  as  that?"  I  sug- 
gested. 

"There  is  no  doubt  at  all  about  that,"  replied  Mon- 
sieur Bergson.  "It  is  their  theory  of  Germany's  mission 
in  the  world.  They  would  make  all  culture  German 
'Kultur.'  Our  idea  is  exactly  the  reverse.  We  think 
that  every  nation  which  has  developed  a  culture  has 
made  something  of  value  to  the  whole  human  race. 
Let  Germany  keep  her  'Kultur'  and  develop  it;  but 
also  let  France  keep  her  culture  and  develop  it;  and 
England  keep  her  culture  and  develop  it.  It  is  the 
manifestation  of  human  evolution  at  different  angles. 
And  this  is  good  for  the  world.  But  it  is  bad  for  the 
world  to  have  any  one  system  made  universal;  and 
this  bad  is  made  worse  if  this  is  done  by  force.  Yet 
just  this  is  Germany's  idea  and  purpose." 

"What  do  you  understand,  Monsieur  Bergson,  to  be 
Germany's  idea  of  culture?" 

"It  is,"  answered  the  French  thinker,  "a  subjection 
of  the  individual  to  the  state,  for  the  purpose  of  an 
uniform  efficiency;  and  probably  also  a  subjection  of 
all  other  European  nations  to  German  influence,  foi 


290     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

the  purpose  of  a  uniformity  that  will  be  profitable  to 
Germany." 

"The  Germans  do  not  consider  their  'Kultur'  as  you 
have  described  it,"  I  explained.  "They  make  a  dis- 
tinction between  civilization  and  'Kultur.'  Civiliza- 
tion, they  say,  has  to  do  with  material  things ;  such  as 
conduct,  manners  and  the  practical  intercourse  of  men 
and  nations ;  but  'Kultur'  has  to  do  with  the  things  of 
the  spirit  and  the  soul.  The  German  idea  is  that  civ- 
ilization is  of  this  world  and  of  the  present;  'Kultur' 
of  the  higher  world  and  of  the  eternal.  England,  they 
say,  is  civilized,  but  not  cultured;  France  is  both  civ- 
ilized and  cultured." 

"We  make  no  such  distinction,"  said  Monsieur  Berg- 
son.  "With  us  civilization  and  culture  are  one.  They 
merge.  This  very  distinction  illustrates  the  German 
mental  habit  of  separating  things  which  really  are  not 
separable.  They  think  with  two  minds,  act  with  two 
souls." 

"Still,  Monsieur  Bergson,"  I  remarked,  "one  neces- 
sarily is  struck  by  this  fact:  that  the  working  out  of 
this  German  conception  of  culture  is  broader  than 
Germany's  scholars  and  thinkers.  For  example,  I  have 
found  that  German  business  men  whom  our  business 
men  think  are  interested  only  in  business,  are  really  far 
more  interested  in  metaphysical  subjects  and  other 
nonmaterial  things.  They  meet  our  business  men  and 
talk  trade,  markets  and  prices  because  they  must;  but 
they  would  far  rather  talk  with  an  informed  and 
thoughtful  person  on  philosophy,  poetry,  music,  art." 

"That,"  replied  Monsieur  Bergson,  "is  what  I  mean 
by  speaking  and  thinking  with  two  minds  and  two 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  291 

souls.  One  of  the  two  souls  may  be  concerned,  as  you 
say,  with  philosophy,  poetry,  music,  art ;  but  the  other 
is  below  the  ordinary  level  of  humanity.  We  have  seen 
that  other  soul  at  work  since  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
and  we  know  what  it  is  worth." 

"There  is  one  thing,  anyhow,  that  can  be  said  for 
them,"  I  observed;  "you  can  state  to  them,  in  the 
bluntest  possible  manner,  your  objections  to  them,  and 
they  will  answer  without  being  offended.  They  will 
say  that  objection  is  not  the  fact,  and  show  why;  or 
they  will  say  this  other  objection  is  not  valid  for  such 
and  such  reasons.  The  point  is  that  they  will  meet 
you  face  to  face  in  discussion." 

"Yes,"  said  Monsieur  Bergson ;  "that  is  quite  true — 
which  makes  my  point  still  stronger  about  two  souls 
and  two  minds;  for  they  answer  you  with  words  and 
reasons,  but  they  do  not  live  those  words  and  reasons. 
And  it  is  living  and  acting  that  counts !" 

"But  what  has  this  to  do  with  their  imposing  their 
ideas  on  the  world  ?"  I  asked. 

"It  has  everything  to  do  with  it,"  said  Monsieur 
Bergson.  "They  are  so  engrossed  in  their  idea  of  the 
superiority  of  German  'Kultur'  that  they  do  not  rec- 
ognize the  great  truth  that  other  nations,  with  their 
different  cultures,  have  a  right  to  exist.  We  French, 
on  the  contrary,  believe  that  when  any  people  have  de- 
veloped into  a  nation  they  have  proved  their  right  to  a 
separate  existence,  and  that  the  thought,  the  ideal,  the 
culture  of  that  nation  as  thus  developed  is  a  contribu- 
tion to  the  sum  of  human  welfare.  So  we  say  that  no 
one  nation,  no  matter  how  powerful,  is  right  or  wise  in 
forcing  its  intellectual  domination  on  any  other  na- 


292     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF, THE   WAR 

tion,  no  matter  how  weak  or  small.  Take  Alsace  and 
Lorraine  for  example.  Germany  tried  to  force  her 
thought  and  methods  of  life  on  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 
If  the  people  of  those  provinces  had  accepted  this  Ger- 
man mental  and  moral  domination,  well  and  good. 
But  they  did  not.  They  remained  French  and  are 
French." 

"But,"  I  observed,  "would  you  call  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine a  nation?" 

"No,"  replied  Monsieur  Bergson;  "but  vital  parts  of 
a  nation." 

"If  I  understand  you,  Monsieur  Bergson, what  you 
have  said  is  also  a  priciple  with  us  Americans ;  yet  we 
have  taken  much  of  our  territory  regardless  of  it.  Have 
you  not  done  the  same  in  the  case  of  your  possessions 
and  colonies,  Algiers,  Morocco  and  the  rest?" 

"It  can  not  be  said,"  replied  Monsieur  Bergson, 
"that  these  were  nations.  They  were  warring  tribes. 
They  had  no  solidarity,  no  national  consciousness. 
They  had  not  proved  to  the  world  the  usefulness,  even 
to  themselves,  of  their  turbulent  condition.  So  our 
theory  that  a  people  who  have  welded  themselves  to- 
gether until  they  have  become  a  collective  human  entity 
does  not  apply  to  bands  of  individuals  in  the  state  in 
which  the  inhabitants  of  Algiers,  Morocco  and  our 
other  possessions  were  before  France  took  charge  of 
them." 

"But,"  said  the  French  philosopher,  "all  this  is  inci- 
dental. The  great  elemental  issue  is  that  of  separate 
and  distinct  developments  of  separate  and  distinct  peo- 
ples as  against  a  rigid  and  unnatural  uniformity. 
Broadly  stated,  it  is  an  issue  between  liberty  and  abso- 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  293 

lutism.  Shall  Europe  and  the  world  become  just  one 
thing,  or  shall  nations  who  are  different,  but  each  of 
them  good  in  some  respect,  progress  along  the  natural 
line  of  their  own  development?" 

"You  seem  to  indicate  that,  at  bottom,  the  conflict 
is  deeper  than  mistakes  of  diplomatists  or  the  ambi- 
tions of  governments,  and  that  it  is  a  war  of  peoples 
and  of  opposing  ideals,"  I  observed. 

"Yes ;  at  bottom,  perhaps,  that  is  true,"  replied  this 
leader  of  French  thought. 

"If  so,  the  war  may  last  a  very  long  time,  may  it 
not?"  I  asked. 

"It  may,  indeed,"  answered  Monsieur  Bergson.  "I 
hope  not ;  I  think  not.  But  it  may." 

"Mr.  Chamberlain  suggested  that  there  might  be  a 
series  of  wars,"  I  observed. 

"That,  too,  is  possible,  historically  speaking,"  said 
Monsieur  Bergson.  "But  we  mean  to  carry  this  war 
to  such  a  final  conclusion  that  another  war  will  be  im- 
possible, at  least  for  a  very  long  time." 

"What  is  French  thought  as  to  that  conclusion  in 
case  the  Allies  win  ?"  I  inquired. 

"We  shall  win.  We  have  not  the  least  doubt  about 
that.  Then  will  come  the  great  readjustment.  Al- 
sace and  Lorraine  will  become  a  part  of  France  again, 
because  they  were  unjustly  and  wrongfully  torn  away 
from  France,  and  because  their  people  have  persisted 
in  remaining  French.  We  shall  break  the  German 
military  system  and  idea." 

"How?"  Tasked. 

"That  is  to  be  worked  out,"  answered  Monsieur 
Bergson.  "But  perhaps  the  German  people  will  attend 


294     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

to  that  themselves,  when  they  see  the  failure  of  their 
military  caste." 

"France's  loss  of  men  is  a  serious  factor,  consider- 
ing her  population  and  birth  rate,"  I  remarked.  "The 
same  loss  in  our  Southern  States  during  our  own  great 
Civil  War,  when  the  South  held  out  for  four  years, 
suggests  this  thought:  Can  France  afford  this  loss; 
how  far  are  you  willing  to  go  in  order  to  win?" 

"To  the  very  last  man,"  said  Monsieur  Bergson;  "To 
the  very  last,"  he  repeated.  "Sacrifice  does  not  matter. 
If  we  should  lose  France  would  disappear  as  a  nation." 

"In  America  where  the  feminist  movement  is  strong, 
the  question  is  asked:  How  long  will  the  women  of 
the  countries  at  war  permit  the  slaughter  to  go  on?" 

"The  French  women  suffer  and  are  brave  and  un- 
yielding," exclaimed  Monsieur  Bergson  with  emotion. 
"They  do  not  hesitate  at  the  sacrifice.  Among  women 
and  men  alike  there  is  a  deep  quiet  feeling  which  is  al- 
most exaltation." 

"Do  you  look  for  a  happier  state  of  humanity  as 
the  final  outcome  of  the  war?"  I  inquired. 

"Yes;  more  kindness,  more  liberty,  more  brother- 
hood. But  I  can  not  say  that  it  is  reasonable  to  ex<- 
pect  war  to  disappear  from  the  earth  altogether. 

"But  there  is  one  thing  more,  and  that  a  thing  of 
serious  importance.  We  think  that  Germany  has  dis- 
honored herself  in  the  way  she  declared  war  and  in 
her  manner  of  conducting  it.  We  feel  very  deeply 
indeed  on  both  these  points.  Especially  on  the  latter, 
Germany's  brutality  in  the  conduct  of  the  war, 
is  our  feeling  intense.  It  is  so  deep  and  so  strong 
that  it  expresses  itself  in  the  quietness  of  our  conduct 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  295 

and  speech;  we  simply  have  no  words  to  express  our 
feeling.  As  I  have  said  to  you,  we  shall  go  on  to  the 
very  end,  regardless  of  sacrifice  or  cost,  however  great. 
This  element  of  French  thought  and  emotion  should 
always  be  considered  when  estimating  French  spirit 
and  opinion  in  this  crisis." 


XII 

FRENCH   THOUGHT   BACK   OF  THE   WAR II 

Manufacturer,  Peace  Advocate  and  Agitator 
France's  Master  Manufacturer 

TO  ONLY  a  few  men  in  France  is  accorded  in- 
dustrial supremacy.  One  of  these  everybody 
in  France  agrees  is  Eugene  Schneider,  owner  and 
active  manager  of  the  world-famed  Le  Creusot  works, 
and  whose  artillery  has  attracted  the  attention  of  all 
nations.  There  are  those  in  France  who  say  that  Mon- 
sieur Schneider  is  the  leading  business  man  of  the  Re- 
public. He  is  still  a  young  man,  only  forty-six 
years  old.  Earnestness  and  sincerity  are  the  qualities 
which  first  strike  the  observer  when  meeting  this  un- 
usual man. 

But  it  is  not  in  his  constructive  business  genius  and 
its  remarkable  results  that  Monsieur  Schneider  takes 
most  pride.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  social  betterment 
of  his  forty  thousand  employees  which  to  him,  and,  in- 
deed, to  his  whole  family,  are  the  chief  source  of  grati- 
fication. 

In  familiar  talk  at  a  family  luncheon  the  conversa- 
tion turned,  of  course,  to  France's  desperate  crisis. 

296 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  297 

Madame  Schneider's  comments  are  typical  of  those  of 
many  French  women  of  the  highest  classes. 

"We  are  all  one  family,"  said  Madame  Schneider. 
"Since  four  generations  the  contact  was  always  abso- 
lutely close.  The  elderly  people  say  with  pride  and 
devotion :  *I  worked  under  the  orders  of  your  grand- 
father and  father,'  and  should  anything  happen  to  one 
of  our  children  we  feel  the  whole  population  would 
go  through  the  same  anxiety  as  ourselves.  Every- 
body in  the  place  is  ready  to  help  and  protect  them,  if 
needed,  as  we  are  ready  to  help  and  protect  any  of 
theirs!" 

"You  see,"  said  Monsieur  Schneider,  "it  is  the  spirit 
back  of  any  enterprise  that  makes  it  successful,  and 
not  merely  the  mechanics  of  business  plan  and  detail." 

"And,"  remarked  Madame  Schneider,  "just  that  is 
the  most  remarkable  thing  in  regenerated  France.  It 
began  a  few  years  before  the  war.  The  young  gen- 
eration talked  of  the  serious,  the  elevated.  We  no- 
ticed it  in  our  sons,  and  everybody  else's  children  we 
found  to  be  just  the  same.  The  solid,  the  noble,  a 
mixture  of  energy  and  kindness  are  in  vogue;  the 
frivolous  is  no  longer  fashionable." 

"Yes,"  said  Monsieur  Schneider,  "this  spirit  of  our 
people  is  the  soul  of  the  conflict,  so  far  as  France  is 
concerned.  It  surprised  everybody,  even  ourselves; 
most  of  all,  it  surprised  the  Germans.  They  thought 
us  decadent;  they  found  us  and  we  found  ourselves, 
recrudescent.  Indeed,  they  did  find  us  weak,  in  the 
sense  that  we  were  not  prepared.  But  now  we  are 
strong ;  from  the  first  day  we  grew  stronger.  At  first 
we  were  weakest ;  now  we  are  strongest." 


298     WHAT   IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"What,  Monsieur  Schneider,  is  the  opinion  of  the 
French  business  world  as  to  the  real  cause  of  this 
war?"  I  asked. 

"The  carrying  into  action  of  the  German  tendency 
to  take  what  they  want,  or  think  they  need,  whether 
it  belongs  to  them  or  not,"  answered  the  famous 
French  gun  manufacturer.  "It  is  part  of  the  German 
mental  make-up  to  take,  take,  take.  We  have  been 
threatened  with  this  for  more  than  forty  years.  There 
was  always  over  us  the  shadow  of  aggression." 

"Do  you  mean  that  French  business  opinion  thought 
Germany  intended  to  take  anything  from  France,  in 
a  physical  sense,  such  as  territory  or  colonies?"  I  in- 
quired. 

"Yes,  we  are  convinced  that  this  was  Germany's 
purpose,"  he  replied.  "The  northern  and  eastern 
parts  of  our  country  are  very,  very  rich.  Our  best 
ore  and  coal  mines  are  there ;  our  best  agricultural  dis- 
trict is  there ;  our  finest  textile  establishments,  such  as 
lace  factories,  are  there ;  our  greatest,  or  at  least  very 
important,  steel  and  iron  works  are  there.  And  this 
territory  adjoins  Germany  or  Belgium.  The  Germans 
said :  'We  like  that  country — why  not  take  it  ?'  There 
is  the  adjacent  district,  with  its  ports  of  Calais,  Le 
Havre,  Dunkirk  and  Cherbourg.  The  Germans  said : 
'These  ports  are  good  for  us  to  have,  too.  From  them 
we  look  across  the  Channel  to  England.  With  them 
we  could  at  least  divide  the  Channel  with  England. 
They  would  be  an  immense  advantage  in  our  program 
of  sea  power;  in  any  event,  it  is  good  for  us  to  have 
them.  Let  us  take  them  then.' ' 

"But,"  I  remarked,  "would  not  Germany  see  that 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  299 

this  might  be  another  Alsace  and  Lorraine — a  source 
of  trouble  and  of  possible  revolution  within  her  own 
dominion?  If  so,  would  the  Germans  want  to  take 
this  French  territory  as  a  matter  of  cold  deliberate 
plan  ?  Would  she  not  have  another  hostile  population 
on  her  hands  ?" 

"She  would  not  reason  so  from  her  experience  in 
Alsace  and  Lorraine,"  Monsieur  Schneider  responded. 
"Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  those  provinces  left 
rather  than  to  endure  German  rule.  Others  stayed 
for  as  long  as  twenty  years,  and  then  left.  The  places 
of  all  these  were  taken  by  Germans.  So  Germany 
could  well  reason  that  the  Champaigne,  Picardy  and 
other  districts  would  also  become  Germanized.  I  do 
not  think  that  the  difficulty  of  an  unfriendly  popula- 
tion would  have  deterred  her." 

"But  may  not  Germany  have  learned  a  lesson  from 
her  own  experience  with  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  just  as 
the  British  did  from  their  treatment  of  us  and  our 
revolution,  which  their  treatment  caused?" 

"Perhaps  she  might,"  answered  Monsieur  Schneider. 
"Perhaps  she  has  learned  that  kindness,  rather  than 
force,  is  the  wise  treatment  of  a  subject  people.  But 
all  of  that  is  immaterial  in  view  of  her  actual  purpose 
to  take  and  our  purpose  to  resist  being  taken.  We  do 
not  intend  that  France  shall  become  Germanized." 

"But,"  I  remarked,  in  surprise,  "do  French  busi- 
ness men  really  think  that  the  Germans  intend  to  Ger- 
manize France  ?" 

"Why,  they  were  doing  it  already.  Perhaps  it 
would  have  been  wiser  for  them  if  they  had  gone  on 
with  their  program  of  peaceful  Germanization." 


300     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"What  do  you  mean  by  peaceful  Germanization  ?" 

"Why,"  said  Monsieur  Schneider,  "all  over  France 
German  business  men  were  coming  in  and  taking  our 
commerce.  German  laborers  were  displacing  French 
working  men.  And  with  all  this  went  Germany's  de- 
sire to  be  the  first  Power  of  Europe,  and  later  on,  of 
the  world." 

"But  what  we  Americans  can  not  see  is  how  Ger- 
many's asserting  that  she  was  the  first  Power  would 
hurt  France,  or  any  other  nation,  practically.  Would 
not  French  business  men  go  on  doing  their  business, 
French  working  men  continue  at  their  labor  and  France 
exist?" 

"Well,"  answered  Monsieur  Schneider,  "that  might 
be  if  they  only  intended  to  assert  that  they  were  the 
first  Power.  But  then  they  would  at  once  use  their 
power  to  take  our  place  (and,  perhaps,  later  on,  your 
own  place)  in  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Then,  of 
course,  we  might  still  exist,  but  under  German  power, 
and  only  to  do  as  we  should  be  told  to  do  by  Germany 
and  the  Germans,  and  never  to  do  what  we  might  want 
to  do  ourselves." 

"Do  you  mean  that,  even  without  war?  Just  by 
the  fact  that  Germany  claimed  to  be  and  was  acknowl- 
edged to  be  the  first  Power  of  Europe  ?"  I  asked. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  said  Monsieur  Schneider,  "more  con- 
crete and  immediate.  If  Germany  wins,  a  great  part  of 
France  is  gone.  That  is  plain  from  what  already  has 
happened.  Germany  to-day  occupies  some  of  the 
richest  territory  of  France — the  mining  district,  where 
also  is  located  our  best  textile  and  metal  industries — 
is  still  in  German  hands  now.  It  is  clear  to  us  that 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  301 

if  Germany  wins  France  is  reduced  to  nothing.  That 
would  mean  the  reduction  of  millions  of  French  men 
and  women  to  a  worse  position  than  that  of  the  Alsa- 
tians before  the  war;  the  loss  of  some  of  the  most 
venerated  places  and  monuments  in  France,  the  battle- 
fields of  Valny  and  Montmirail,  the  cathedral  of 
Rheims,  the  cottage  of  Joan  of  Arc,  etc.  So  it  is  war 
for  existence  on  our  part." 

"In  America  the  feminist  movement  is  very  strong, 
and  the  question  is  on  the  lips  of  our  people :  'How 
long  will  the  women  of  France  let  this  war  go  on?' " 

"I  can  answer  that,"  said  Madame  Schneider.  "Our 
sons  are  young,  hardly  more  than  boys.  When  the 
war  began  they  enrolled  at  once,  and,  dear  as  they  are 
to  us,  I  immediately  consented.  France  is  our  com- 
mon mother,  and  no  mother  in  France  would  keep  her 
sons  away  from  that  absolute  duty;  to  protect  and 
save  France.  You  should  read,  as  I  have,  the  letters 
of  French  mothers  to  their  sons,  and  the  letters  of 
these  sons  to  their  mothers." 

"May  it  be,  then,"  I  asked,  "that  this  is  a  people's 
war?" 

"It  seems  to  be,"  answered  Monsieur  Schneider. 

"If  that  is  so,  it  may  last  for  a  long  time." 

"It  may,  indeed,"  replied  Monsieur  Schneider, 
"though  I  do  not  know.  But  long  or  short,  we  shall 
fight  to  the  end." 

"Yes,"  said  Madame  Schneider,  "we  want  to  finish 
while  we  are  about  it.  We  do  not  want  our  children 
to  go  through  what  we  are  going  through  now." 

I  said,  "The  Schneider  guns  are  playing  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  war  and  are  considered  by  French 


302     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

military  men  as  superior  to  the  Krupp  guns.  The 
world  is  interested  in  your  establishment.  How  did 
it  make  headway  ?" 

"Our  works  made  most  of  the  French  guns  from 
the  time  of  Louis  XVI,  1782,  to  the  end  of  Napoleon's 
reign,  1815,"  Monsieur  Schneider  explained.  "Then 
after  the  final  peace  a  law  passed  that  no  private  enter- 
prise should  make  guns  for  foreign  countries.  This 
law  was  enforced  until  after  the  Franco-Prussian  War 
(one  of  the  many  reasons  for  France's  failure  in  that 
1870  war  was  the  inferiority  of  our  artillery).  After 
the  Franco-Prussian  War  this  law  was  repealed.  Dur- 
ing this  long  period  gun  manufacture  was  a  govern- 
ment monopoly;  we  then  manufactured  machinery,  en- 
gines, metallic  bridges,  all  kinds  of  iron  and  steel  work, 
ships,  and  also  a  large  amount  of  parts  of  guns,  which 
were  designed  and  mounted  in  government's  concerns. 
I  then  said  to  my  father:  'Artillery  is  the  future 
weapon  of  war.  So  let  us  make  guns  again,  not  only, 
or  even  chiefly,  as  a  good  business  plan,  but  also  and 
principally  for  our  country's  defense.'  Meanwhile,  of 
course,  the  Krupps  had  built  their  great  establishment, 
which  was  encouraged  by  the  German  government, 
whereas  we  were  not  encouraged  by  our  own  govern- 
ment." 

"How  were  you  not  encouraged  by  your  govern- 
ment, and  how  were  you  then  able  to  make  guns  at 
all?  For  whom  did  you  make  guns?"  I  inquired. 

"We  always  made  parts  of  guns  for  the  French  navy 
and  army — but  we  were  only  allowed  to  make  parts  of 
guns,"  answered  Monsieur  Schneider.  "These  parts 
were  mounted  by  and  in  government  concerns." 


Shells  in  the  making.     The  artillery  and  shell  department  of  the 

celebrated   Le    Creusot   works   in   full   blast.     The  Schneiders, 

proprietors  of  these  and  other  similar  plants,  have  made  most 

French  artillery  from  the  time  of  Louis  XVI. 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  303 

"How  then,  did  you  get  any  foothold  at  all?"  I 
asked. 

"Only  by  making  better  guns,  and  asking  other  gov- 
ernments to  test  our  guns  with  any  others,"  responded 
Monsieur  Schneider.  "It  was  a  hard  pull.  I  would 
go  to  a  country  and  say :  'We  have  better  guns.'  That 
country's  government  would  say :  'Why,  then,  does  not 
your  own  government  let  you  make  its  guns  entirely; 
the  Germans  do  that?  The  Kaiser  says  the  Krupp 
guns  are  best.  Your  government  does  not  say  yours 
are  best.'  And  all  I  could  answer  was:  'Try  them. 
Test  them.  Compare  them.'  So,  little  by  little,  we 
made  headway.  If  our  artillery  should  prove  better, 
it  is  only  because  I  never  have  been  satisfied  that  any- 
thing we  did  was  the  best  that  we  could  do ;  but  kept  on 
trying  to  do  better.  Now  the  Schneider  guns  have  been 
adopted  by  most  governments  in  the  world,  as  well  as 
by  the  French  government;  and,  of  course,  you  know, 
for  example,  in  the  Balkan  war,  the  Servians,  Greeks 
and  Bulgarians  proved  they  were  the  best." 

"What  do  you  expect,  Monsieur  Schneider,  will  be 
the  result  of  the  war?" 

"Our  victory,"  answered  Monsieur  Schneider. 
"That  is  settled  now." 

"But,"  I  suggested,  "what  will  you  do  with  your 
victory  if  you  get  it?" 

"We  shall  make  it  impossible  for  France  to  be  dis- 
turbed again — at  least  for  one  or  two  generations,"  re- 
sponded Monsieur  Schneider. 

"And  how  will  you  do  that  if,  as  you  seem  to  think 
possible,  this  is  a  war  of  peoples?  There  must  now 
be  shaping  in  the  public  mind  some  outline,  however 


304     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

vague,  of  what  you  will  do  if  you  win.  Especially 
should  this  be  true  of  business  men  whose  habit  of 
mind  is  to  think  in  concrete  terms,"  I  suggested. 

"That  is  in  the  future.  Events  shape  policies,  not 
policies  events,"  Monsieur  Schneider  answered. 

"If  you  mean  to  destroy  the  military  power  of  Ger- 
many, would  you  do  it  by  dismembering  the  Imperial 
government,"  I  asked. 

"I  do  not  know,  I  can  not  say,"  answered  Monsieur 
Schneider.  "That  would  be  difficult.  It  is  hard  to  tell 
people  what  they  must  do,  and  then  make  them  do  it." 

"Do  French  business  men  contemplate  disarmament 
of  all  nations?"  I  asked;  "would  this  mean  a  limita- 
tion of  navies  as  well  as  armies?  If  so,  on  what  prin- 
ciple? For  example,  must  England  have  only  the 
same  size  navy  as  France?  Would  England  agree  to 
that?"  I  inquired. 

"That  is  a  hard  problem.  It  is  for  the  future,"  said 
Monsieur  Schneider. 

"Suppose  disarmament  did  come,  how  would  that 
affect  your  industry?" 

"Scarcely  at  all,"  said  Monsieur  Schneider.  "We 
should  at  once  turn  all  our  energies  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  engines,  locomotives  and  other  things  made  of 
metal.  Indeed,  that  is  our  chief  business,  anyhow." 

"But,"  said  I,  "what  would  become  of  the  Krupps?" 

"Just  the  same,"  answered  Monsieur  Schneider. 
"They,  too,  manufacture  as  many  things  for  peace  as 
for  war." 

"As  a  result  of  this  war,  do  you  anticipate  that  both 
you  and  the  Krupps  will  cease  making  guns,  armor 
plate,  battleships,  submarines?"  I  asked. 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  305 

(For  the  Schneider  works,  like  the  Krupp  works, 
manufacture  armor  plate,  build  ships,  construct  sub- 
marines; and  the  Schneiders  have  factories  at  Le 
Havre,  Bordeaux  and  other  places,  just  as  the  Krupps 
have  factories  at  Kiel,  Stettin,  etc.) 

"I  do  not,"  positively  answered  Monsieur  Schneider. 
"That  would  mean  universal  peace.  But  universal  peace 
would  mean  that  every  nation,  people  and  country 
would  agree  never  to  fight  again,  and  that  some  power 
could  force  them  to  keep  that  compact.  Such  a  pros- 
pect is  not  in  the  immediate  future,  to  say  the  least," 
said  Monsieur  Schneider.  "I  say  this  disinterestedly, 
for  we  make  more  work  for  purposes  of  peace  than  we 
do  guns  and  armor  plate  and  ships  for  purposes  of  war. 
It  is  a  matter  of  self-respecting  safety.  After  all,  a 
nation  is  like  a  man.  What  do  I  do  myself?  I  fence 
and  ride  every  day.  I  do  this  in  order  to  keep  my 
body  and  mind  in  perfect  condition  to  do  my  work 
principally,  but  also  there  always  is  the  thought  of 
being  my  own  man  and  being  prepared  to  assert  that 
fact.  I  mean  to  harm  nobody;  but  if  a  highwayman 
holds  me  up  on  the  street  I  hope  I  should  be  able  to 
give  a  good  account  of  myself.  The  man  who  is 
weak,  flaccid  and  powerless  is  anybody's  prey.  True, 
nobody  may  harm  him,  but  anybody  could  harm  him. 
It  is  just  so  with  nations." 

'An  Eminent  French  Peace  Advocate 

A  prominent  Frenchman,  one  of  those  who  have 
been  the  most  eloquent  advocates  of  peace  between 
the  nations  during  the  last  few  years,  expressed  him- 


306     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

self  in  the  following  way  during  a  luncheon.  At  the 
request  of  this  well-known  French  public  man,  his 
name  is  withheld;  but  the  conversation  was  revised 
with  great  care  by  his  secretary  under  his  direction 
and  is  given  exactly  as  he  wished  it  to  appear. 

"What,  in  French  thought,  was  the  real  cause  of 
the  war?"  I  remarked. 

"We  must  always  start  from  this  foundation: 
'What  is  right?'  A  man  must  be  right.  A  nation 
must  be  right.  When  men  neglect  what  is  right 
there  always  is  trouble.  When  nationalities  are 
crushed,  there  is  no  harmony  in  the  world — so  one  of 
the  causes  of  this  frightful  struggle  is  that  right  was 
not  regarded." 

"In  what  respect  do  you  mean?"  I  asked.  "We 
Americans  are  so  far  away  and  so  detached,  physic- 
ally, from  the  rest  of  the  world  that  it  is  hard  for  us 
to  understand  the  complications  of  European  politics. 
So  we  should  like  to  know  French  opinion  as  to  the 
real  cause  of  the  war.  What  began  it?" 

"It  is  very  easy  to  answer  that,"  replied  the  eminent 
Frenchman.  "The  war's  real  beginning  was  at  The 
Hague  Peace  Conference,  when  liberal  powers  pro 
posed  obligatory  arbitration  as  a  preventive  of  war, 
and  when  Germany  refused  to  agree.  Your  Mr. 
Choate  supported  this  idea,  but  Baron  Marshall  von 
Biberstein  refused  to  follow  him  and  worked  in  such 
a  way  that  general  arbitration  was  rejected,  although 
twenty-two  nations  supported  it,  among  them  the 
United  States,  England,  France,  Russia." 

"Now,  what  about  the  limitation  of  armaments?" 
I  inquired.  "What  rule  was  to  be  followed?  For 


FRENCH    THOUGHT  307 

example,  were  all  nations  to  have  the  same  sized 
navies?  Or  was  there  to  be  a  maximum  navy  which 
all  might  build,  but  none  could  exceed?  Or  were 
nations  to  be  divided  into  classes  according  to  their 
strength,  wealth  and  so  forth,  certain  nations  being 
counted  first-class  Powers,  others  second-class  Powers 
and  so  forth,  the  nations  of  each  class  to  have  the  same 
sized  navies?  And  was  the  same  rule,  or  rules,  to 
apply  to  the  size  and  equipment  of  armies?  In  other 
words,  just  how  was  the  limitation  of  armaments  to 
be  worked  out;  and,  even  more  important,  how  was 
the  arbitration  to  prevent  war  to  be  accomplished  in  a 
practical  way?" 

The  distinguished  French  publicist  responded: 

"Limitation  of  armaments  is  a  very  important  but 
difficult  problem  and  in  all  cases  it  ought  to  be  re- 
solved only  after  arbitration — the  problem  you  refer 
to  should  have  been  resolved  if  the  principle  is  admit- 
ted with  a  real  good  will." 

"But  the  war  having  actually  broken  out,  why  did 
France  go  into  it?" 

"Only  because  France  was  invaded,"  was  the  answer. 

"But  before  actual  hostilities,  and  assuming  the  war 
to  have  been  between  Germany  and  Russia,  would 
France  have  joined  in  the  war  because  of  her  alliance 
with  Russia?" 

"The  Russian  alliance  was  not  the  only  cause  of 
France's  action,"  replied  the  distinguished  Frenchman. 
"France  kept  all  her  army  ten  kilometers  behind  her 
frontier — notwithstanding  she  was  attacked.  France 
fought,  and  is  fighting  now,  because  she  was  invaded." 

"But  when  Germany  asked  France  what  she  would 


308     WHAT   IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

do  in  case  of  a  Russo-German  war,  which  then  was 
impending,  and  France  declined  to  answer,  was 
France's  attitude  influenced  by  her  alliance  with 
Russia  ?"  I  inquired. 

"Allies  must  be  faithful  to  each  other,"  he  re- 
sponded. "But  the  great  cause  of  war,  as  I  have  said, 
is  because  France  was  threatened  and  invaded.  Her 
frontier  was  violated  in  twenty-five  different  points  by 
German  troops  before  the  declaration  of  war." 

"In  a  conflict  so  tremendous  as  this,  greater  than 
any  in  history,  there  must  have  been  some  powerful 
forces,  deep  beneath  the  surface  of  diplomatic  ex- 
changes, which  brought  it  on.  The  American  people 
earnestly  wish  to  know  what  those  forces  were.  Put- 
ting aside  diplomatic  correspondence,  what  was  the 
real,  the  fundamental  cause  of  the  war?  It  seems  to 
be  a  war  of  peoples,  rather  than  an  armed  dispute  of 
governments,"  I  observed. 

"That  is  true.  It  is  a  war  of  peoples,"  remarked 
another  brilliant  member  of  the  luncheon  party,  "and 
therefore,"  said  he,  "it  is  of  course  a  conflict  of  ideals. 
Modern  Germany  stands  for  militarism  in  life  as  well 
as  in  arms.  The  German  idea  is  that  everybody  should 
conform  to  the  same  rule  in  conduct,  living,  and  even 
in  thought.  No  man  is  allowed  to  develop  in  his  own 
way ;  no  man  acts  independently.  Everybody  looks  to 
some  higher  authority  to  regulate  his  conduct.  The 
French  idea  is  the  exact  reverse.  In  France,  every 
man  is  his  own  master.  He  grows  up  in  his  own  way, 
thinks  his  own  thoughts,  lives  his  own  life.  He  culti- 
vates his  individuality.  The  German  idea  is  that  of 
efficiency,  which  they  think  can  be  secured  only  by  an 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  309 

arbitrary  absolutism.  With  them,  efficiency  is  first 
and  liberty  second ;  with  us  French,  liberty  is  first  and 
efficiency  second." 

"That,"  said  the  French  statesman,  "is  a  correct 
statement  of  the  opposing  ideals  of  France  and  Ger- 
many. And  the  Germans  want  to  impose  their  ideal, 
their  'Kultur,'  as  they  call  it,  on  France  and  the  whole 
world." 

"But  how,"  I  inquired,  "could  the  Germans  force 
what  you  have  said  to  be  their  ideal  upon  the  French 
people?  In  a  conflict  of  ideals,  the  one  which  wins 
must  do  so  only  by  merit,  must  it  not  ?  So  why  should 
these  hostile  ideals,  these  opposing  systems  of  thought, 
be  a  cause  of  war?" 

"The  Germans,"  was  the  reply,  "were  not  content 
to  let  merit  decide  the  controversy.  They  wished  to 
extend  their  rule  by  force." 

"What  good  would  that  do  Germany  in  a  prac- 
tical way?  How  could  war  with  France  force  the 
German  intellectual  system  on  to  the  French  people?" 
I  asked. 

"By  taking  some  of  our  territory,  as  they  took  Al- 
sace and  Lorraine.  We  have  a  proof  of  it  in  Cham- 
paigne;  they  told  to  the  mayors  that  they  would  not 
like  to  burden  the  country  because  they  were  to  stay 
definitively,"  said  the  noted  French  publicist. 

"Would  Germany  do  that,  merely  to  extend  what 
you  have  said  is  her  ideal  of  life?  In  what  way  would 
Germany  be  benefited  by  such  a  war,  even  if  she  were 
successful?"  I  inquired. 

"In  three  ways,"  he  explained.  "The  territory  which 
she  now  wishes  is  the  Champaigne  district  of  France. 


310     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

This  is  very  rich,  agriculturally  and  also  in  mines.  In- 
deed, it  is  one  of  the  richest  if  not  the  richest  part  of 
France.  Also  another  part  of  the  territory  which  Ger- 
many now  wants,  is  that  which  includes  the  ports  of  Le 
Harve,  Calais  and  Dunkirk.  This  new  territory  Ger- 
many wants  and  is  trying  to  take  would  add  greatly 
to  her  wealth  and  give  her  ports  which  would  control 
the  Channel  and  menace  England.  This  is  one  way  in 
which  Germany  would  get  material  benefit  from  a  suc- 
cessful war  with  France. 

"In  the  next  place,  the  inhabitants  of  this  territory 
would  be  forced  to  furnish  more  soldiers  for  the  Ger- 
man army ;  and  Germany  wants  soldiers  as  much  as  she 
wants  wealth  and  power.  To  the  German  mind,  sol- 
diers mean  wealth  and  power.  That  is  what  Germany 
has  her  army  for. 

"In  the  third  place,  if  Germany  could  overcome 
France,  she  would  take  France's  colonies  and  posses- 
sions. These  are  very  valuable.  They  would  give  to 
Germany  immense  riches  and  a  greatly  extended  com- 
merce. 

"These  are  three  methods,  plain  to  every  one,  by 
which  Germany  would  reap  an  immense  material 
benefit  if  she  were  victorious  in  a  war  with  France." 

"Do  you  think,  and  is  it  the  French  opinion,  that 
Germany  has  had  all  this  in  mind?  Is  it  the  French 
view  that  Germany  has  intended  to  take  all  this  French 
territory  and  acquire  French  colonies  and  possessions, 
as  a  settled  policy,  steadily  held  by  Germany  for  any 
length  of  time?"  I  inquired. 

"Yes,"  came  the  positive  answer.    "We  all  think  so. 


FRENCH    THOUGHT  311 

We  believe  that  has  been  Germany's  intention  for 
many  years." 

"You  mentioned  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  Will  France 
take  back  Alsace  and  Lorraine  from  Germany  if 
France  wins?" 

"If  France  wins!  Why,  she  will  win;  she  has  al- 
ready won;  Germany  already  is  beaten!*  Of  course 
we  shall  take  back  Alsace  and  Lorraine !  That  is  not 
even  to  be  discussed !  It  is  a  good  example  of  my  first 
remark  about  being  in  the  right.  Right  was  violated 
when  Germany  took  Alsace  and  Lorraine  from  France, 
and  right  will  be  vindicated  when  France  takes  back 
what  is  hers  by  right." 

"And  then  what?" 

"Then,  of  course,  we  shall  destroy  the  military 
power  of  Germany.  We  shall  make  it  impossible  for 
Germany  ever  again  to  disturb  the  peace  of  Europe." 

"And  how  will  you  do  that  ?" 

"By  putting  Germany  back  where  she  was  before 
German  militarism  was  built  up." 

"Do  you  mean  that  if  the  Allies  are  victorious  they 
would  place  Germany  where  she  was  before  1870?" 

"Not  exactly  that.  But  we  mean  that  German  mili- 
tarism has  grown  up  about  their  Imperial  govern- 
ment. It  is  Germany's  Imperial  government  that  has 
fostered  and  cultivated  German  militarism.  And  as 
this  militarism  increased,  Germany's  Imperial  govern- 
ment has  shown  more  and  more  aggressiveness.  There- 
fore, its  destruction  is  necessary  to  secure  and  pre- 
serve the  permanent  peace  of  Europe." 


*  The  date  of  this  conversation  was  February  25,  1915. 


312     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"What  more  do  you  think  the  Allies  would  require 
if  successful?" 

"A  war  indemnity,  of  course.  Also,  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  integrity  of  Belgium.  But  above  all,  a 
system  of  arbitration  and  limitation  of  armaments 
which  reduces  the  causes  of  war." 

A  French  Agitator 

The  reconciliation,  wrought  by  the  war,  of  the  most 
hostile  French  elements  was  illustrated  by  a  luncheon 
at  the  house  of  one  of  the  very  wealthiest  of  the 
French  bourgeoisie.  Men  who  had  no  interests  nor 
thought  in  common  and  who  even  are  personally  and 
intellectually  hostile,  sat  about  a  common  board,  drawn 
thither  by  their  agreement  in  the  present  crisis  of 
French  history.  One  of  these  was  Monsieur  Herve, 
editor  of  a  French  Socialist  newspaper,  The  Social 
War.  Herve's  career  has  been  full  of  high  color  and 
dramatic  incident.  Some  called  him  anarchist.  Still 
more  declared  him  unpatriotic.  He  served  a  long  term 
in  prison  as  a  result  of  his  agitations.  Nevertheless,  it 
appears  to  be  reasonably  probable  that  Monsieur 
Herve  does  voice  the  feelings  of  a  certain  element  of 
Parisians. 

The  following  conversation  took  place  in  the  office 
of  Monsieur  Herve's  paper,  La  Guerre  Sociale,  one  of 
the  organs  of  the  French  Socialist  party. 

"How  do  French  Socialists  look  on  this  war,  Mon- 
sieur Herve?"  I  asked. 

"The  German  Socialists  could  have  prevented  it," 
said  Monsieur  Herve.  "The  French  Socialists  went  to 


FRENCH    THOUGHT  313 

the  German  Socialists  and  said :  'Let  us  jump  at  the 
throats  of  our  respective  governments  if  they  take  the 
least  step  toward  war.'  This  was  at  the  Socialist  con- 
gress at  Stuttgart,  eight  years  ago.  I  myself  bore  the 
message." 

"Well,  what  did  the  German  Socialists  do  and  say 
to  that  proposal  ?" 

"  'Oh/  said  they,  'we  can't  do  that ;  we  must  not  do 
that!  We  can't  pledge  in  advance  to  oppose  our  gov- 
ernment if  our  country  goes  to  war!'  They  acted  as 
if  they  looked  up  to  the  Kaiser  as  a  kind  of  god !  They 
mustn't  do  anything  that  might  disturb  the  dear  Kai- 
ser !  That  was  their  attitude !  They  didn't  say  it ;  but 
they  acted  it.  So!"  And  Monsieur  Herve  put  his 
hands  together  as  if  in  prayer,  rolled  his  eyes  upward 
and  assumed  the  attitude  of  one  in  frightened  appeal. 

The  Socialist  editor  continued :  "When  the  German 
Socialists  didn't  have  the  nerve  to  agree  with  us  to  at- 
tack the  French  or  German  governments,  if  either 
made  a  move  toward  war,  we  French  Socialists  made 
another  proposal :  'Let  us  get  rid  of  all  the  possible 
causes  of  trouble.'  For,  you  see,  we  here  in  Europe  have 
understood  for  a  very  long  time  that  the  Balkan  states 
were  bound  to  make  trouble  for  somebody  sooner  or 
later.  All  through  the  nineteenth  century  there  has  been 
a  series  of  wars,  revolutions,  coup  d'etats  and  what 
not,  all  due  to  the  same  cause,  and  all  pointing  in  the 
same  direction.  They  have  been  the  fires  that  have 
welded  the  peoples  of  one  blood  and  common  ideals 
into  states,  independent  and  autonomous.  Thus  the  war 
for  the  unification  of  Italy,  the  coup  d'etat  which  sep- 
arated Sweden  and  Norway,  and  the  war  of  1870-71 


314     WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

itself,  which  brought  about  the  unity  of  Germany,  and 
so  on.  But  the  Balkan  states  were  the  slowest  of  all  the 
European  states  to  emerge  from  this  fire.  They  have 
required  a  great  deal  of  gestating  to  get  shaken  down 
to  where  they  belong,  and  it  is  not  yet  finished ;  no,  not 
by  a  good  deal.  But  while  they  were  at  this  nationaliz- 
ing process,  that  strange  patchwork  of  everything  and 
nothing  that  calls  itself  the  Austrian  Empire,  with  the 
Ottoman  Empire  the  only  remaining  state  in  the  world 
whose  foundations  are  purely  political,  and  neither  ra- 
cial nor  intellectual — this  politician's  paradise  was 
deftly  absorbing  bits  of  territory  which  rightfully 
should  have  belonged  to  one  Balkan  state  or  another, 
and  holding  them  by  force.  Well,  you  can't  do  that,  you 
know.  It  only  makes  trouble  in  the  long  run.  It  violates 
the  principle  of  nationalism,  and  every  time  that  princi- 
ple is  violated  somebody  has  to  pay  for  it  sooner  or 
later.  When  Germany  violated  the  principle  of  national- 
ism by  taking  Schleswig  and  Holstein  and  Alsace  and 
Lorraine,  she  was  in  for  trouble  some  day,  as  she  might 
have  known.  She  was  due  for  a  bad  case  of  national 
indigestion,  just  as  Austria  was  due  for  a  bad  case  of 
national  indigestion  when  she  swallowed  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina,  and  just  as  Russia  is  in  for  another  un- 
less she  lets  go  of  Poland.  We  pointed  these  things  out 
to  the  German  Socialists.  We  told  them  that  there  was 
trouble  ahead  for  Germany  if  she  insisted  on  keeping 
Alsace  and  Lorraine  against  the  will  of  the  inhabitants. 
Not,  you  understand,  that  anybody  was  plotting  to 
make  Germany  trouble  over  Alsace  and  Lorraine;  but 
just  that  a  great  wrong,  a  violation  of  a  fundamental 


FRENCH    THOUGHT  315 

principle  of  human  life,  carries  its  punishment  with  it. 
And  so,  too,  we  told  the  German  Socialists  that  if 
Germany  stuck  to  her  Austrian  alliance  the  upheaval 
which  was  bound  to  overtake  Austria  some  day  would 
drag  them  in,  just  as  our  Russian  alliance  was  apt  to 
drag  us  into  the  same  trouble,  from  the  other  side.  So, 
we  said,  there  are  two  things  which  must  be  done  if 
the  French  people  and  the  German  people  are  going 
to  get  along  together  on  any  enduring  basis ;  first,  the 
German  people  must  purge  themselves  of  the  wrong 
they  have  done  in  respect  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine — not 
for  our  sake,  but  for  theirs ;  and  second,  we  must  both 
of  us  get  rid  of  our  unnatural  and  purely  political  alli- 
ances, which  are  dangerous  because  they  are  founded 
on  no  lasting  principle  of  human  right. 

"For  these  reasons  we  said  to  them,  'You  make  the 
German  government  give  back  Alsace  and  Lorraine  to 
France,  and  we  shall  make  the  French  government 
give  you  colonies  in  exchange.  Then  we  shall  make 
the  French  government  break  the  Russian  alliance,  and 
you  make  the  German  government  break  the  Austrian 
alliance/ 

"Now  that  was  a  fair  proposition,"  went  on  the  So- 
cialist editor.  "Yet  what  do  you  think  those  German 
Socialists  said?  They  said  it  was  romantic;  that  it 
could  not  be  done;  that  it  might  require  a  revolution. 

"  'Well,'  we  said,  'then  go  ahead  and  have  your  revo- 
lution! There  is  nothing  so  terrible  in  a  revo- 
lution— it  is  better  than  a  long  war,  anyhow.  We 
have  done  just  that  many  times  in  France.  If  the  gov- 
ernment will  not  do  it,  make  the  government  do  it.' 


316     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"And  the  German  Socialists  answered:  'Oh!  go 
take  a  walk !  Go  to  bed !' 

"And,"  continued  Monsieur  Herve,  "why  did  they 
answer  our  fair  proposition  by  telling  us  to  'take  a 
walk'  or  'go  to  bed'?  What  reason  did  they  give? 
This :  'It  wasn't  practical.'  'It  couldn't  be  carried  out !' ' 

"But  what  about  the  war  itself?"  I  suggested. 
"What  do  French  Socialists  think  caused  it,  and  what 
do  they  think  should  be  done?" 

"Just  understand  this  first,"  answered  Monsieur 
Herve :  "although  the  French  are  a  revolutionary  peo- 
ple, as  their  history  proves,  and  although  they — and 
especially  the  common  people — have  got  their  reforms 
by  force,  by  shooting  and  killing,  yet  these  very  com- 
mon people,  who  now  are  the  French  Socialists,  are 
against  all  war,  and  all  force. 

"We  have  shot  men — yes,  we  admit  it.  But  for 
many  years  we  are  the  people  who  have  been  in  favor 
of  doing  away  with  all  of  that  sort  of  thing;  we  who 
have  won  our  rights  by  shedding  blood,  are  now  the 
force  that  is  against  any  more  bloodshed." 

"And  the  war — the  present  war?"  I  intimated. 

"Yes,  that's  just  it.  We  are  making  this  war  against 
Germany  to  stop  all  war,"  declared  Monsieur  Herve. 
"Germany's  fool  feudal  military  caste  brought  this 
war  on.  The  German  Socialists  could  have  stopped  it 
if  they  had  wanted  to.  They  wouldn't ;  they  didn't.  So 
the  French  Socialists  are  going  to  stop  it.  And  with  it, 
they  will  go  a  long  way  toward  stopping  war  for  good 
—all  war." 

"How?"  I  asked. 

"By  destroying  Germany's  military  caste,  Germany's 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  317 

foolish,  feudal,  military  caste,  which  still  is  thinking  in 
terms  of  the  middle  ages !"  exclaimed  Monsieur  Herve. 
"It  was  Germany's  military  caste,  fuddling  around 
with  their  medieval  brains  that  brought  on  this  hideous 
war. 

"Here,  let  me  show  you  how  true  this  is,"  he  con- 
tinued. "There  was  the  Morocco  affair.  Poof !  There 
was  going  to  be  war.  But  was  there  ?  There  was  not ! 
Business  interests  were  involved  and  the  commercial 
men  had  their  say.  So  business  men  settled  it  in  a  busi- 
ness way.  The  military,  saber-clanking  caste  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  it.  That  enraged  them.  'Oh !'  said  they, 
'what  are  we  for  if  not  to  settle  everything  our  way, 
which  is  by  force?' 

"So  when  the  Servian  trouble  came  up,  they  strode 
forward  with  their  clanking  sabers,  their  silly  me- 
dieval brains  and  they  pounded  on  the  table  with  their 
swords.  'Ho!'  said  they;  'we  settle  this,  our  way.  If 
not — war!'  Well,  they  got  war.  I  think  that  they 
were  surprised  that  they  did  get  it,  yes  and  more  than 
they  want,  too !  They  thought  everybody  would  give 
in  to  them. 

"They  thought  pounding  on  the  table  would  scare 
everybody!"  went  on  the  French  Socialist  editor. 
"Well,  it  did  not!  Instead  of  giving  in  to  them  they 
brought  on  a  war  which  is  going  to  be  the  end  of  them. 
That's  what  comes  of  the  politics  of  pounding  on  the 
table ! 

"This  war  was  caused  by  the  idiotic  German  military 
caste,  with  its  middle-ages  scrap  of  an  intellect,  pound- 
ing on  the  table  with  a  sword,  in  modern  times !"  re- 
peated Monsieur  Herve  with  infinite  energy. 


318     WHAT   IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"What  do  French  Socialists  think  of  the  end  of  the 
war?"  I  inquired. 

"Oh,  the  end  and  the  cause  are  the  same,"  explained 
Monsieur  Herve.  "Just  as  Germany's  military  caste, 
with  its  sword-rattling  idea  brought  on  this  war,  so  our 
purpose  in  carrying  on  the  war  is  to  end  that  medieval, 
military  caste,  and  the  whole  sword-rattling  idea.  So, 
you  see,  we  are  righting  for  universal  peace,  and  for 
modern  ideas,  against  militarism  and  medieval  ideas." 

"But  do  you  confine  all  this  to  Germany  ?  Russia  is 
fighting  Germany,  too;  yet  Russia  is  supposed  to  be 
autocratic  and  reactionary.  Still,  autocratic  Russia 
and  liberal  France  are  both  fighting  Germany.  We 
Americans  do  not  understand  that,  especially  in  view 
of  what  you  have  said  about  a  military  caste.  Has 
Russia  no  military  caste  ?"  I  suggested. 

"Russia !"  blazed  forth  the  Parisian  Socialist.  "You 
mean  our  alliance  with  Russia  ?  Well,  we  didn't  like  it, 
and  we  don't  like  it  now.  As  I  told  you,  we  proposed 
to  the  German  Socialists  that  we  would  make  our  gov- 
ernment break  France's  alliance  with  Russia,  if  the 
German  Socialists  would  make  their  government  break 
Germany's  alliance  with  Austria.  So  far  as  that  is 
concerned,  don't  forget  that  we,  the  French,  have  got 
the  Germans  to  thank  for  that  Russian  alliance,  any- 
how; it  was  the  fear  of  Germany,  with  her  table- 
pounding  politics,  that  forced  us  to  make  the  Russian 
alliance." 

"But  I  was  merely  suggesting,  Monsieur  Herve,  in 
your  comment  about  Germany's  military  caste,  and  the 
war  being  against  that,  that  Russia  is  supposed  to  be 
more  autocratic  than  Germany,"  I  observed. 


FRENCH    THOUGHT  319 

"Well,  Russia  is  not!"  answered  Monsieur  Herve. 
"Russia  is  far  better  prepared  for  Socialism  than  Ger- 
many. There  is  a  more  liberal  spirit  in  Russia  than  in 
Germany.  Wait  until  her  muzhiks  are  educated,  and 
you  will  see !  And  the  end  of  this  war  will  be  a  warn- 
ing to  any  military  party  that  does  exist  in  Russia! 
The  end  of  this  war  will  open  the  Russians'  eyes,  I  as- 
sure you !" 

"What  will  be  this  end  of  the  war  you  speak  of, 
Monsieur  Herve  ?"  I  asked. 

"The  readjustment  of  Europe,  on  this  principle," 
the  French  Socialist  editor  expounded:  "All  people 
who  belong  together  by  blood,  ideals  and  desire,  shall 
be  put  together;  nations  shall  be  formed  on  these 
natural  and  just  lines,  instead  of  on  the  arbitrary,  un- 
natural and  sword-forced  lines  that  now  exist.  Then, 
this  being  done,  let  all  these  nations  stay  at  home  and 
attend  to  their  own  business — no  expansion,  no  wars, 
no  foolish  ambitions  to  cause  them.  Then  the  United 
States  of  Europe,  and  an  international  police  enforcing 
compulsory  arbitration." 

"How  would  you  get  that  international  police?"  I 
asked. 

"Why,"  answered  Monsieur  Herve,  "we  have  it 
now !  That  is  what  the  Allies  in  this  war  are — France, 
Russia,  England,  Servia.  And — oh !  yes,  Belgium !" 

"And  Japan?"  I  added. 

"Oh,  Japan!"  exploded  Monsieur  Herve,  rising  to 
his  feet.  "Long  live  China !" 

"Your  plan  for  readjusting  Europe  is  quite  interest- 
ing," I  remarked.  "Would  you  explain  it  in  detail? 
The  American  public  will  be  highly  entertained." 


320     WHAT   IS   BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

"Why,  certainly,"  promptly  answered  Monsieur 
Herve.  "It  is  quite  plain  and  simple,  reasonable  and 
just — and  not  difficult.  For  example,  merely  to  illus- 
trate the  general  principle  which  I  have  already  stated, 
which  is  that  people  of  common  blood  and  common 
ideas  have  a  right  to  live  together  and  work  out  their 
own  destinies  unmolested  by  any  medieval  conjurer. 
Suppose  Europe  were  arranged  this  way : 

"First,  Alsace  and  Lorraine  made  part  of  France, 
because  they  are  part  of  France. 

"Second,  Schleswig  returned  to  Denmark  for  the 
same  reason. 

"Third,  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  re-established. 

"Fourth,  let  us  divide  Austria  up — she  is  no  nation. 
Her  people  are  not  of  common  blood;  have  not  iden- 
tical ideals.  That  part  of  Austria  which  is  German 
will  go  to  Germany — you  see  we  are  fair;  that  part 
which  really  is  Roumanian  will  go  to  Roumania,  and 
so  on.  And,  of  course,  Hungary  will  be  established  as 
a  separate  kingdom  by  itself.  You  see  the  principle — 
put  the  people  together  who  belong  together  and  then 
let  each  of  them  stay  at  home.  This  principle  will 
work  itself  out  in  spite  of  everything — it  is  bound  to 
work  itself  out  in  the  end,  because  it  is  the  natural 
principle." 

"And  Turkey?"  I  suggested. 

"Yes,"  answered  Monsieur  Herve.  "I  was  coming 
to  Turkey.  We  shall  cut  it  up  into  three  parts,  as  it 
ought  to  be?" 

"What  three  parts  and  to  whom  does  each  part  go  ?" 

"Why,  that's  plain!"  answered  Monsieur  Herve. 
"Constantinople  and  the  territory  adjacent  to  Russia 


FRENCH   THOUGHT  321 

will  go  to  Russia;  Syria  will  go  to  France — it  adjoins 
our  colony  there." 

"And  what  part  of  Turkey  does  England  get?"  I 
asked  of  this  master  map  maker. 

"Bagdad — the  railway  and  all  that  portion  of  Turk- 
ish territory." 

"In  this  remaking  of  the  modern  world,  by  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  blood  unity  of  peoples,  where  would 
Algiers,  Morocco  and  the  other  French  colonies  or 
possessions  come  in?"  I  suggested. 

"Ha!"  exploded  this  voice  of  French  unrest,  "they 
were  all  wrong  on  principle!  Two  years  of  my  term 
in  prison  was  because  of  my  opposition  to  the  policy  in 
Morocco.  But  of  course  you  must  understand  that 
when  I  refer  to  the  great  principle  that  people  of  com- 
mon blood  and  common  ideals  have  a  right  to  live  to- 
gether unmolested,  and  to  work  out  their  own  desti- 
nies, I  do  not  apply  that  principle  to  peoples  whose  his- 
tory has  not  shown  that  they  have  any  destinies  to 
work  out,  or  any  conscious  intention  of  working  out 
any  destiny  they  may  be  said  to  have.  This  is  the  case 
with  countries  like  Morocco,  Madagascar,  Syria  and 
so  on.  They  are  not  going  forward  at  all;  they  have 
been  going  backward  for  centuries.  They  can  not  be 
permitted  to  keep  down  the  average  of  the  sum  of 
human  progress  for  merely  sentimental  reasons.  They 
must  be  taken  in  hand  and  led  to  the  road  of  progress 
by  the  countries  which  are  really  traveling  that  road. 
We  French  Socialists  are  not  quibbling  over  words ;  we 
are  sincerely  trying  to  make  the  world  a  better  world 
for  everybody.  We  have  done  that  with  respect  to 
Algiers,  for  example.  We  showed  them  the  way  oj 


322     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

progress  and  then,  finally,  when  they  began  to  get  ac- 
customed to  the  road,  we  have  made  the  inhabitants 
citizens  of  France.  That  is  what  we  must  do  with  the 
people  of  every  country  which  France  governs.  There 
is  no  other  way.  And  I  tell  you  that  this  will  come  in 
a  generation." 

"Have  you  any  other  plan  in  your  program  of  inter- 
national rehabilitation?" 

"Yes ;  and  a  very  dear  one.  The  Jewish  nation  must 
be  re-established  in  Palestine." 

"And  is  that  all  ?"  I  ventured. 

"All  for  the  present.  But,  with  the  principle  in 
operation,  more  will  come  along  the  same  lines.  We 
must  cure  all  the  bleeding  wounds  made  by  the  wars  of 
past  centuries.  We  must  do  it  now  and  for  all  time. 
If  we  do  not,  we  shall  have  to  fight  the  same  battle  over 
again,  for  this  same  end,  twenty-five  years  hence." 


XIII 

WAR  CONDITIONS  IN  ENGLAND  I    A  CONTRAST 

TOWARD  the  close  of  the  first  phase  of  the 
combat  of  nations  (March,  1915),  the  quick 
crossing  of  the  Channel  brought  the  student  of  peoples 
at  war  face  to  face  with  contrasts ;  conditions  in  Eng- 
land appeared  to  be  the  reverse  of  those  in  France  and 
Germany. 

A  picturesque  circumstance  at  once  compelled  sharp 
comparison.  London  swarmed  with  soldiers.  For 
every  soldier  seen  on  the  streets  of  Paris  or  Berlin,  one 
might  count  at  least  an  hundred  in  the  British  capital. 
Omnibuses  and  taxicabs  were  often  halted  to  let 
marching  companies  go  by.  Khaki-clad  privates  with 
their  natty  caps  thronged  the  streets.  No  restaurant 
was  without  several  military  customers.  They  were 
seen  strolling  in  all  public  parks  where  the  people  of 
London  take  the  air.  The  music-halls  were  never 
without  a  bevy  of  officers. 

Too  much  can  not  be  said  in  praise  of  the  physical 
appearance  of  the  majority  of  these  British  soldiers. 
Perhaps  one-half  of  the  thousands  of  these  volun- 
teers, personally  studied,  were  superb  examples  of 
vigorous  and  robust  manhood.  The  Scotch  especially 
were  magnificent  specimens.  Superior  to  all  in  their 

323 


324     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

physical  fitness,  vitality  and  bearing,  were  the  soldiers 
and  officers  from  Canada,  although  comparatively  few 
of  these  were  seen ;  most  of  them,  it  was  said,  were  not 
at  Aldershot  or  in  London. 

At  a  rough  estimate,  one  would  say  that  at  least  two- 
thirds,  perhaps  three- fourths,  of  all  the  soldiers  and 
officers  observed  in  England  during  March  of  1915 
were  excellent  military  material — this  includes  the  one- 
half  of  the  whole  who  are  exceptionally  fine-looking 
men.  The  remainder  were  inferior  in  stature  and  all 
other  evidences  of  physical  strength.  But,  speaking  by 
and  large,  neither  France  nor  Germany  has  stronger 
looking  men  at  the  front  than  most  of  the  British 
volunteers. 

It  was  frankly  admitted  by  well  informed  English- 
men deeply  interested  in  the  war  that  the  officers  were 
not  well  trained.  "You  couldn't  expect  anything  else, 
could  you?"  said  one  of  these.  "They  have  not  had 
six  months'  training.  But,"  he  added,  with  cheerful 
optimism,  "you  will  find  that  they  will  turn  out  all 
right." 

The  heavy  weight  of  British  public  opinion  heartily 
supported  the  war.  Thoughtful  Englishmen  of  the 
highest  consideration,  like  Viscount  Bryce,  declared 
that  "The  British  people  are  united  more  than  they 
ever  were  united  before"*  in  support  of  the  war. 

Yet  it  was  evident  that  there  were  not  the  compact- 
ness and  unity  of  sentiment  or  the  utter  devotion  and 
unlimited  resolve  that  marked  popular  feeling  in  Ger- 
many and  France.  Such  careful  but  outspoken  con- 
servatives as  Lord  Newton  frankly  asserted  that  "there 

*See  Chapter  XIV,  p.  371. 


Ready  for  the  front.     British  recruits,  their  training  completed. 

Most  of   the   British  soldiers  "personally  studied  were  superb 

examples  of  vigorous  and  robust  manhood." 


WAR   CONDITIONS    IN    ENGLAND    325 

are  a  large  number  who  do  not  know  what  the  war  really 
means  and  there  are  some  who  actually  say  that  they 
do  not  see  what  difference  it  would  make  to  them  even 
if  the  German  Emperor  ruled  this  country";  but  Lord 
Newton  said  that  "undoubtedly  by  far  the  greatest  ma- 
jority support  the  war."* 

Of  many  persons  interviewed,  belonging  to  the  un- 
der strata  of  the  "middle  class"  and  ranging  down  to 
the  "lower  class,"  as  the  British  term  describes  them, 
few  had  any  clear  idea  of  the  reason  for  Great  Brit- 
ain's going  to  war. 

"Why,  sir,  we  went  to  war  on  Belgium's  account," 
said  one  of  these.  "Belgium!"  exclaimed  another  of 
the  group,  "we  are  fighting  for  ourselves.  We  can't 
afford  to  let  Germany  get  to  the  Channel."  Of  the 
class  here  referred  to,  a  barber  happened  to  be  the  only 
carefully  informed  one;  he  had  read  the  diplomatic 
documents  with  a  care  worthy  of  an  employee  of  the 
foreign  office  and  had  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that: 
"England  went  into  this  war  to  keep  Germany  from 
being  the  first  Po\ver  of  Europe — England  couldn't 
permit  that,  sir,  could  she  ?" 

But  the  others  were  either  vague  or  absurd  in  their 
ideas  of  the  cause  of  this  greatest  armed  strife  in 
human  history  or  frankly  confessed  their  total  igno- 
rance of  the  whole  matter. 

"That  German  Kaiser  was  going  to  come  over  here 
and  rule  England,"  said  a  cab  driver.  "You  don't 
mean,"  exclaimed  the  questioner,  "that  the  German 
Emperor  meant  to  depose  King  George  and  ascend  the 

*  See  Chapter  XIV,  p.  374. 


326     WHAT   IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

British  throne  himself,  do  you?"  "That's  exactly 
what  I  mean,"  was  the  response. 

The  keeper  of  a  little  shop  in  the  poorer  quarter  of 
London  surmised  that :  "Money  is  at  the  bottom  of  it, 
sir."  A  small  business  man  said  that  he  had  not  been 
able  to  make  up  his  mind  why  England  went  to  war, 
but  he  was  sure  that  she  ought  not  to  have  done  it  and 
very  emphatic  in  his  "wish  that  the  politicians  would 
get  through  with  it." 

The  curious  fact  was  generally  admitted  that  the 
middle  classes  appeared  to  be  unaroused  and  the  so- 
called  lower  classes  divided  between  those  who  are  sul- 
lenly indifferent  and  those  who  are  patriotically  inter- 
ested.* 

But  the  aristocracy  were  eager,  united  and  resolved. 
Never  in  history  has  this  hereditary  class  shown  its 
valor  and  patriotic  devotion  in  a  more  heroic  way  than 
in  the  present  crisis.  Their  courage  amounts  to  reck- 
lessness. When  one  listens  to  undoubtedly  true  stories 
of  these  men's  conduct  in  battle,  one  almost  concludes 
that  they  regard  it  as  a  point  of  honor  to  get  killed 
"like  gentlemen."  They  are,  of  course,  mostly  officers ; 
and  it  is  said  that  the  British  private  soldier  does  not 
take  kindly  to  officers  from  his  own  class,  but  follows 
willingly  only  those  from  the  ranks  above  him,  and  not 
even  these  unless  they  lead  him  with  a  death-inviting 
physical  daring. 

Well  informed  men  in  England   frankly  declared 

that  the  officers  of  the  British  army  are  selected  on 

principles  almost  as  aristocratic  as  those  of  the  German 

army;  and  it  can  not  be  and  is  not  denied  that  with 

*  These  inquiries  were  made  in  March,  1915. 


WAR   CONDITIONS   IN   ENGLAND    327 

respect  to  officers,  Great  Britain's  military  organization 
is  less  democratic  than  that  of  France. 

Such  was  one  of  the  dissimilarities  between  war  con- 
ditions in  England  and  those  in  the  two  countries 
locked  in  deadly  strife  almost  within  sight  of  the 
British  coast. 

Perhaps  the  facts  set  forth  in  this  article  are  the 
fruits  of  democracy,  although  this  thought  is  modified 
by  the  reflection  that  France  also  is  a  democracy  and 
the  French  even  more  democratic  than  the  English. 
Or  perhaps  the  conditions  here  reported  flow  from 
British  unpreparedness  in  land  forces  due  to  her  over- 
preparedness  in  sea  forces ;  for  Great  Britain's  mighty 
navy,  greater  than  that  of  any  other  two  nations  com- 
bined, and  the  water  defended  location  of  the  United 
Kingdom  have  justly  given  the  British  people  a  sense 
of  security  enjoyed  by  those  of  no  other  European 
country. 

But  whatever  the  cause,  contrasts  and  surprises 
everywhere  confronted  one  who  stepped  across  the 
Channel  from  France  and  Germany  on  to  English  soil, 
toward  the  close  of  the  first  period  of  the  war,  March 
of  1915.  Antitheses  were  on  every  side ;  and  fixed  and 
settled  ideas  were  driven  from  the  mind  by  the  lash  of 
hard  and  remorseless  facts. 

Perhaps  the  labor  and  industrial  situation  was  the 
most  meaningful  circumstance  that  challenged  atten- 
tion. 

The  first  phase  of  Armageddon  was  drawing  to  its 
close.  Great  Britain  was  in  the  eighth  month  of  the 
war.  Although  she  had  held  but  a  small  fraction  of  the 
almost  four  hundred  miles  of  battle  line  in  France, 


thousands  of  British  soldiers  had  fallen  and  hundreds 
of  her  finest  officers  had  laid  down  their  lives.  The 
larger  part  of  her  expeditionary  force  comprising  most 
of  her  disciplined  troops  and  trained  leaders  had  been 
killed,  captured  or  disabled. 

In  answer  to  fervent  exhortations  and  appealing  ad- 
vertisements hitherto  unknown  in  warfare,  two  million 
five  hundred  thousand  British  volunteers,  it  was  said, 
had  enlisted  and  were  in  training — an  immense  num- 
ber, and  yet  only  about  half  of  the  men  with  whom 
France  now  holds  her  battle  lines  or  has,  highly 
trained,  waiting  in  reserve  depots  to  join  their  com- 
rades at  the  fighting  front;  just  the  same  number  of 
Germans,  it  was  asserted  by  some  in  Germany,  who, 
not  called  to  the  colors,  yet  volunteered  when  hostili- 
ties opened  and  perhaps  one-third  of  the  number  that 
Germany  has  under  arms  or  ready  to  take  the  field. 

Yet,  popular  discontent  had  raised  its  many  headed 
visage  in  multitudes  of  places  throughout  the  United 
Kingdom.  The  workers  on  the  Clyde  had  struck.  The 
dock  laborers  at  Liverpool  had  either  stopped  work  or 
threatened  to  do  so.  Here,  there  and  yonder,  the  pro- 
test of  the  toiler  against  conditions  had  flamed  up  like 
a  fire  creeping  beneath  forest  leaves  and  refusing  to  be 
extinguished.  Bitter  animosity  had  arisen. 

The  powerful  and  ably  edited  London  Post,  of 
March  10,  1915,  avowed  that: 

"The  behavior  of  some  of  our  workmen  just  now 
would  justify  martial  law.  .  .  .  Many  of  them 
only  work  half  the  week  and  idle  away  the  rest  of  the 
time." 


WAR   CONDITIONS    IN   ENGLAND    329 

An  article  in  the  London  Times,  of  March  16,  1915, 
from  its  special  correspondent  from  Sunderland  en- 
titled Shipyard  Shirkers,  thus  stated  the  situation : 

"The  pride  of  Sunderland  [Clyde]  is  its  claim  to  be 
the  biggest  shipbuilding  town  in  the  world ;  the  shame 
of  Sunderland  is  its  large  body  of  shirkers,  and  that 
shame  is  paraded  openly  and  almost  ostentatiously  in 
the  main  street  of  the  town.  At  10  o'clock  in  the 
morning  there  are  hundreds  of  men,  hands  in  pockets, 
slouching  idly  along  in  little  groups,  standing  talking  at 
street  corners,  most  of  them  smoking — many  of  them 
able-bodied  men  of  military  age." 

This  article  declared  that: 

"It  is  a  common  thing  for  men  to  be  away  three  days 
each  week.  .  .  .  Most  employers  and  several 
workingmen  attribute  the  absenteeism  to  drink.  .  .  . 
But  absenteeism  is  not  wholly,  or  indeed,  largely  due 
to  intemperance.  The  shirkers  who  parade  the  streets 
are  a  remarkably  sober-looking  body  of  men." 

The  Daily  Mail,  of  March  8,  1915,  asked : 

"How  could  the  employers  and  their  workmen  on 
the  Clyde  and  elsewhere  allow  an  industrial  dispute  to 
develop  to  the  serious  and  immediate  peril  of  their 
nation  in  the  midst  of  the  most  stupendous  war  the 
world  has  ever  seen?" 

And  it  answered  its  own  question  by  quoting  Lord 
Selborne  that 


330     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"  'Those  concerned  did  not  in  the  least  appreciate  the 
extreme  gravity  of  the  crisis.' ' 

In  an  article  by  "Our  Special  Correspondent,"  enti- 
tled, Do  We  Realize  the  War?  the  London  Times,  of 
March  7,  1915,  published  this: 

"There  seems  to  be  a  feeling,  shared  I  don't  know 
exactly  by  whom,  that  as  a  nation  we  are  not  awake  to 
the  importance  of  the  life-and-death  struggle  in  which 
we  are  engaged.  .  .  .  What  can  the  French  think 
of  us — the  French  who  are  seeing  part  of  their  beloved 
country  under  the  iron  heel  of  the  Hun,  who  are  strain- 
ing every  nerve  to  free  their  land  and  crush  the  in- 
vader? It  is  known  that  the  pack  of  hounds  we  im- 
ported into  France  in  order  that  our  British  soldiers 
might  hunt  in  their  spare  time  has  been  put  down  at 
the  request  of  the  French  government." 

The  Daily  Mail,  of  March  16,  1915,  editorially  as- 
serted that 

"The  workers  in  the  armament  factories  of  this 
country  have  not,  as  a  whole,  realized  what  this  war 
requires  of  them." 

The  labor  papers,  on  the  contrary,  tigerishly  re- 
sented these  attacks  upon  the  workers.  These  journals 
saw  in  the  assaults  upon  the  British  laboring  man  an 
effort  to  break  down  the  whole  Trades  Unions  system 
and  an  exploitation  of  labor  by  the  capitalist  classes. 
"This,"  declared  Justice,  of  March  11,  1915,  an  organ 
of  the  Social  Democracy,  in  a  signed  article,  was 


WAR   CONDITIONS   IN   ENGLAND    331 

"The  reason  why  Cabinet  Ministers,  shareholders,  and 
capitalistic  pressmen  have  commenced  this  campaign 
of  calumny  against  a  body  of  men  who,  but  a  short 
time  before,  they  were  united  in  praising.  First  it  was 
the  docker  who  was  lazy,  now  it  is  the  engineer — 
whose  turn  will  it  be  next?  Not  the  shareholder,  who 
calmly  pockets  his  enhanced  dividends,  and  then  pro- 
ceeds to  abuse  the  men  who  made  the  dividends." 

Another  signed  article  in  this  labor  paper  concerning 
the  strike  of  the  engineers  on  the  Clyde  said : 

"We  find  the  engineering  shops  seething  with  dis- 
content, and  it  is  difficult  to  say  what  may  yet  be  the 
outcome." 

These,  out  of  scores  of  similar  quotations  on  both 
sides  of  the  labor  controversy,  give  some  idea  of  the 
sharpness  of  the  economic  strife  in  Great  Britain. 

So  very  grave  did  it  finally  become  and  so  acutely 
was  the  government  embarrassed  in  conducting  the  war 
because  of  shortage  of  material  and  equipment,  that 
toward  the  middle  of  March  the  most  drastic  and  auto- 
cratic law  ever  passed  by  any  legislative  body  in  British 
history  was  enacted.  Broadly  speaking,  this  law  gave 
the  government  absolute  power  to  take  over  and  con- 
duct the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  industry  of  Great 
Britain. 

The  factories  were  not  turning  out  proper  quanti- 
ties of  munitions.  Ship-building  firms  were  working 
on  private  contracts.  There  had  been  no  general  vol- 


332     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF  THE   WAR 

untary  adjustment  of  manufacturing  to  changed  con- 
ditions as  in  Germany  and  France. 

But,  while  employers  were  blamed  for  selfishness 
and  profit  hunger,  the  weightiest  blows  of  censure  fell 
upon  the  heads  of  British  laborers.  Thus  the  govern- 
ment armed  itself  with  Czar-like  powers  of  compulsion 
over  the  entire  industry  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

The  government  considered  this  revolutionary  stat- 
ute so  necessary  that  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
Mr.  Lloyd-George,  assured  the  House  of  Commons, 
on  March  9,  1915,  that  "the  success  of  the  war  de- 
pends upon  it." 

Lord  Kitchener,  from  his  place  is  the  House  of 
Lords,  on  March  15,  told  Parliament  and  the  nation 
that  the  military  preparations  had  "been  seriously 
hampered  by  the  failure  to  obtain  sufficient  labor  and 
by  delays  in  the  production  of  the  necessary  plants"; 
and  complaining  of  labor  indifference  and  Trades 
Unions  restrictions  he  grimly  declared  that  the  Com- 
mandeering Bill,  as  this  extreme  socialistic  measure 
was  popularly  called,  was  "imperatively  necessary." 

The  newspapers  were  swift  to  see  and  frank  to  state 
the  profound  change  which  this  law  wrought  in  British 
conditions;  and  justified  it  only  upon  the  ground  of 
deadly  emergency.  The  Daily  Mail,  of  March  10, 
1915,  said  that  the  law  established 

"A  sort  of  industrial  dictatorship,"  but  welcomed  it 
"because  it  depends  very  largely  on  the  capacities  of 
British  industrialism  whether  this  war  is  to  end  in  a 
speedy  and  decisive  victory." 


WAR   CONDITIONS   IN   ENGLAND    333 
The  Daily  Express,  of  March  10,  1915,  asserted 

"The  new  bill  is,  of  course,  State  Socialism.  That 
must  be  accepted." 

And  the  Times,  of  March  11,  1915,  announced  that: 

"When  the  Government  come  to  Parliament  and  de- 
clare that  this  step  is  necessary  for  the  successful  pros- 
ecution of  the  war  there  can  be  no  question  of  refusing 
the  powers  for  which  they  ask." 

Because  the  debate  disclosed  remissness  on  the  part 
of  the  manufacturers  and  the  law  gave  autocratic  con- 
trol of  them,  the  Morning  Post,  of  March  10,  1915, 
after  a  long  comparison  of  the  conduct  of  working 
men  and  manufacturers,  demanded  that : 

"If  there  are  to  be  powers  to  deal  with  'refractory 
manufacturers/  let  us  have  powers  also  to  deal  with 
refractory  workmen." 

The  Star,  of  March  10,  1915,  stated  that  the  "tre- 
mendous powers"  of  the  Commandeering  Bill  "make 
the  Government  absolute  dictators  in  the  industrial 
field." 

The  Daily  Express,  of  March  13,  1915,  in  discussing 
another  subject,  announced  that :  "Parliamentary  gov- 
ernment has  temporarily  come  to  an  end  in  Great 
Britain." 

The  same  paper,  on  the  same  date,  in  an  unusually 
brilliant  editorial  leader,  affirmed  that: 


334     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"It  is  one  of  history's  little  ironies  that  a  Radical 
government,  pledged  to  a  complete  trust  in  the  people, 
should  have  been  compelled  by  the  force  of  circum- 
stances to  take  away  from  the  people  practically  all 
the  liberties  won  by  turbulent  barons,  village  Hamp- 
dens,  and  proletarian  agitators.  Under  the  Defense 
of  the  Realm  Act,  the  Executive's  power  is  absolute. 
.  .  .  The  power  of  the  British  Cabinet  at  this  mo- 
ment is  far  less  qualified  than  the  power  of  the  Czar 
has  ever  been  in  Russia.  ...  At  a  moment  of  un- 
precedented danger  the  nation  has  shown  a  complete 
trust  in  the  government  by  dowering  it  with  despotic 
authority.  The  nation  has  trusted  the  government, 
but  the  government  shows  quite  clearly  that  it  does  not 
trust  the  nation." 

At  a  large  labor  meeting  personally  attended,  follow- 
ing the  first  debate  in  Parliament  upon  the  Comman- 
deering Bill,  bitter  denunciations  of  the  government 
were  heard.  The  manufacturers,  the  ship  owners,  the 
dealers  in  life's  necessities,  were,  declared  the  speakers, 
using  the  war  to  squeeze  blood  money  from  the  people 
by  an  unconscionable  raising  of  prices.  One  orator  as- 
serted that  certain  high  members  of  the  government 
were  personally  sharing  these  wicked  profits. 

At  this  labor  meeting  not  one  warm  word  was  ut- 
tered in  support  of  the  war.  But  all  demanded  that 
the  principles  of  the  Commandeering  Bill  should  be 
applied  to  food  and  fuel  in  order  to  relieve  the  distress 
of  the  people;  if  the  government,  said  they,  is  to  take 
over  factories  and  docks,  and  to  compel  labor  to  toil 
unreasonably  in  order  that  munitions  of  war  shall  be 


WAR   CONDITIONS    IN    ENGLAND    335 

furnished,  let  the  government  also  take  over  food 
stuffs  and  compel  dealers  and  carriers  to  sell  reason- 
ably for  the  provisioning  of  the  poor. 

Leaflets  and  pamphlets  were  distributed,  filled  with 
astounding  figures  showing  the  rise  of  prices  and  de- 
manding government  intervention.  A  pamphlet  enti- 
tled "Why  Starve?"  showed  that  bread  had  risen  since 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  from  five  pence  for  a  four- 
pound  loaf  to  seven  and  one-half  pence  and  was  still 
going  up;  and  while  the  price  of  all  meat  had  risen 
sharply,  that  consumed  by  the  common  people  had 
increased  enormously.  "The  best  parts  of  British  beef 
and  mutton  have  gone  up  only  an  average  of  seven  per 
cent.,  whereas  the  cheaper  parts,  which  the  poorer  peo- 
ple buy,  have  risen  twenty-two  per  cent,"  declared  this 
striking  pamphlet. 

Similar  soaring  of  prices  was  shown  in  other  neces- 
saries of  life,  the  conclusion  being,  said  this  appeal, 
that: 

"It  is  just  as  important  that,  in  a  state  of  war,  the 
provisioning  of  the  people  should  be  undertaken  as  a 
national  responsibility  as  that  soldiers  should  be  well 
looked  after.  .  .  .  National  organization  of  agri- 
culture and  national  control  of  the  foodstuffs  produced, 
together  with  the  means  of  transit  used  in  the  interests 
of  people  in  peace  as  it  is  now  used  for  military  pur- 
poses in  war — these  are  the  lines  which  must  be  fol- 
lowed." 

A  leaflet  distributed  by  the  thousand  entitled  The 
Enemy  Within  Our  Gates,  asserted  that : 


336     WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"War,  with  all  its  horrors,  sufferings  and  sacrifices, 
is  regarded  by  certain  people  in  our  midst  as  affording 
a  special  opportunity  for  plundering  their  fellow  coun- 
trymen. Ship  owner,  colliery  owner,  coal  merchant, 
flour  merchant,  corn  speculator — patriots  all ! — seek  to 
make  huge  profits  out  of  our  necessities";  and  gave 
comparative  prices  showing  that  bread,  corn,  coal 
(cheaper  qualities),  meat  (cheapest  qualities),  had  al- 
most doubled  in  price  since  Great  Britain  drew  the 
sword. 

The  leaflet  said  that  one  result  of  the  British  navy's 
clearing  the  seas  of  German  shipping  was  that: 

"Ship-owners  are  thus  free  to  increase  freights  one 
hundred,  two  hundred,  three  hundred,  four  hundred 
and  EVEN  FIVE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT."  ;*  and  demanded 
that  "The  government  must  take  over  the  supply  of 
food  and  fuel  and  the  means  of  transport,  and  must 
administer  that  supply  for  the  benefit  of  the  people." 

It  closed  with  an  appeal  for  organization  "to  force 
the  government  to  act  speedily  in  the  interest  of  the 
whole  people  and  to  put  a  stop  to  this  robbery  by  a 
gang  of  profit-mongers  trading  on  the  necessities  of 
the  poor." 

"Oh!  They  amount  to  nothing,"  said  one  of  the 
most  powerful  men  in  England  when  told  of  this  labor 
meeting.  On  the  contrary :  "But  you  noticed  that  the 
chairman  was  a  member  of  Parliament,  that  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  British  cooperative  stores  was  one  of 
the  speakers,  and  that  all  of  them  were  trusted  repre- 
sentatives of  the  working  classes,"  remarked  a  studious 


*The  capitals  are  those  of  the  leaflet. 


WAR   CONDITIONS   IN   ENGLAND    337 

observer  when  told  of  this  estimate  of  the  insignifi- 
cance of  this  labor  demonstration. 

So  familiar  had  one  become,  in  France  and  Ger- 
many, with  smooth-working  efficiency,  solidarity  of 
sentiment,  contentment  with  economic  conditions  and 
steel-like  resolve,  that  what  was  seen,  heard  and  read 
of  the  labor  and  industrial  situation  across  the  Chan- 
nel startled  and  surprised. 

Another,  though  a  surface,  example  of  the  differ- 
ences in  the  British  situation  as  compared  with  that 
existing  in  France  and  Germany :  London  was  liter- 
ally plastered  with  posters  appealing  for  volunteers. 
"Britons !  Your  country  needs  you,"  in  big  red  letters. 
"The  Empire  needs  men!  Australia,  Canada,  India, 
New  Zealand,  all  answer  the  call.  Helped  by  the  young 
Lions,  the  old  Lion  defies  its  foes.  Enlist  now !"  with 
a  striking  picture  of  a  roaring  lion  surrounded  by  four 
younger  ones.  "Why  aren't  YOU  in  khaki  ?"  "To  the 
women  of  Britain — some  of  your  men  folk  are  holding 
back  on  your  account.  Won't  you  prove  your  love  for 
your  country  by  persuading  them  to  go  ?" — so  read  the 
appeal  on  one  poster  to  British  women. 

These  are  only  a  few  mild  examples  of  multitudes 
of  posters.  Many  of  these  contained  cleverly  worded 
arguments.  Others  had  attractive  pictures.  Great 
painted  signs  were  attached  to  large  buildings  calling 
men  "To  arms  for  King  and  Country,"  or  declaring 
that  "Your  King  and  Country  needs  you.  Join  the 
army  until  the  war  is  over."  Quotations  from  the 
speeches  of  British  statesmen  were  displayed  in  the 
most  conspicuous  public  places  in  gigantic  crimson  let- 
ters. 


338     WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

Almost  every  taxicab  bore  on  its  front  such  mottoes 
as  "Rally  around  the  flag,"  "Another  half  million  men 
wanted  at  once,"  "Wake  up,  England!  Complete  an- 
other half  million  men."  "Inlist  for  duration  of  the 
war."  In  the  underground  rapid  transit  cars  appeared 
such  advertisements  as  this :  "England  vs.  Germany. 
Enter  for  the  great  international  final.  Inlist  at  once." 

By  the  middle  of  March  there  were  signs  that  such 
devices  were  palling  on  the  public;  and  the  Times,  of 
March  17,  1915,  in  an  earnest  leader  asked,  "what 
steps  are  being  taken  to  fill  the  places"  of  the  killed 
and  wounded?  Referring  to  the  advertising  devices 
for  the  securing  of  enlistments,  this  editorial  declared 
that: 

"We  confess  at  once  that  we  have  not  ourselves 
admired,  some  of  the  expedients  already  employed. 
Sensational  advertisements  and  indirect  compulsion  are 
not  the  methods  by  which  a  great  people  should  raise 
their  armies." 

In  France,  on  the  contrary,  no  such  flaming  appeals 
to  patriotism  were  found.  A  modest  request  to  boys 
under  military  age  and  their  parents  to  cooperate 
with  the  Citizens'  Military  Committee  was  the  only 
printed  inducement  to  arms  to  be  found  in  Paris ;  even 
this  was  in  plain  black  type  and  posted  occasionally 
and  without  ostentatious  prominence  on  a  wall  here 
and  there.  And  it  was  answered  liberally;  unripe 
youth  of  France  were  drilling  by  the  thousand. 

In  Germany  appeared  no  entreaties  of  any  kind 


WAR   CONDITIONS   IN   ENGLAND    339 

for  men  to  join  the  colors  or  for  women  to  support 
the  war ;  and  this  was  not  because,  as  many  in  Amer- 
ica erroneously  suppose,  that  all  German  men  are  com- 
pelled to  bear  arms.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  Ger- 
man soldiers  then  and  now  at  the  front  were  and  are 
volunteers. 

And  Belgium!  The  greatest  surprise  in  store  for 
the  American  student  of  peoples  at  war  was  the  place 
Belgium  occupied  in  British  opinion  as  the  cause  of 
Great  Britain  entering  the  conflict.  For  the  American 
visitor  supposed,  of  course,  that  Germany's  violation 
of  Belgian  neutrality  was  the  one  and  only  reason  for 
Great  Britain's  drawing  the  sword. 

Yet  a  remarkably  bold  and  powerful  leading  edi- 
torial in  the  London  Times  of  March  8,  1915,  on 
Why  We  Are  At  War,  declared  that : 

"Our  honour  and  our  interest  must  have  compelled 
us  to  join  France  and  Russia,  even  if  Germany  had 
scrupulously  respected  the  rights  of  her  small  neigh- 
bours. .  .  .  Why  did  we  guarantee  the  neutrality 
of  Belgium?  For  an  imperious  reason  of  self-interest, 
for  the  reason  which  has  always  made  us  resist  the 
establishment  of  any  Great  Power  over  against  our 
East  Coast.  .  .  .  We  do  not  set  up  to  be  interna- 
tional Don  Quixotes,  ready  at  all  times  to  redress 
wrongs  which  do  us  no  hurt.  .  .  .  Even  had  Ger- 
many not  invaded  Belgium,  honour  and  interest  would 
have  united  us  with  France.  We  had  refused,  it  is 
true,  to  give  her  or  Russia  any  binding  pledge  up  to 
the  last  moment.  We  had,  however,  for  many  years 
past  led  both  to  understand  that,  if  they  were  unjustly 


340     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

attacked,  they  might  rely  upon  our  aid.  This  under- 
standing had  been  the  pivot  of  the  European  policy 
followed  by  the  three  Powers.  .  .  .  We  reverted 
to  our  historical  policy  of  the  balance  of  power  .  .  . 
for  the  reasons  for  which  our  forefathers  adopted  it. 
.  .  .  When  we  subsidized  every  State  in  Germany, 
and  practically  all  Europe,  in  the  Great  War,  we  did 
not  lavish  our  gold  from  love  of  German  or  of  Aus- 
trian liberty,  or  out  of  sheer  altruism.  No ;  we  invested 
it  for  our  own  safety  and  our  own  advantage.  .  .  . 
England  is  righting  for  exactly  the  same  kind  of  rea- 
sons for  which  she  fought  Philip  II,  Louis  XIV,  and 
Napoleon.  She  is  fighting  the  battle  of  the  oppressed, 
it  is  true,  in  Belgium  and  in  Serbia.  .  .  .  She  is 
helping  her  great  Allies  to  fight  in  defense  of  their 
soil  and  of  their  homes  against  the  aggressor.  .  .  . 
But  she  is  not  fighting  primarily  for  Belgium  or  for 
Serbia,  for  France  or  for  Russia.  They  fill  a  great 
place  in  her  mind  and  in  her  heart.  But  they  come 
second.  The  first  place  belongs,  and  rightly  belongs, 
to  herself." 

In  a  brilliant  leader  of  March  17th,  the  Morning 
Post  asserted : 

"This  country  did  not  go  to  war  out  of  pure  altru- 
ism, as  some  people  suppose,  but  because  her  very  ex- 
istence was  threatened.  A  Germany  supreme  in  France 
and  the  Netherlands  must  inevitably  have  destroyed 
the  British  Empire  next.  That  is  what  really  under- 
lies 'the  scrap  of  paper'  and  all  the  talk  of  'German 
Militarism!'" 


WAR   CONDITIONS    IN   ENGLAND    341 

Of  several  thoroughly  informed  and  eminently 
thoughtful  men,  belonging  to  the  various  political  par- 
ties, whose  names  are  well  known  in  intellectual  Eng- 
land, only  one  was  found  who  ventured  to  intimate 
that  Great  Britain  would  not  have  declared  war  if 
Germany  had  not  violated  Belgium's  neutrality;  and 
even  this  distinguished  Englishman  qualified  his  state- 
ment by  saying  that  "but  for  this  [the  violation  of 
the  Belgian  neutrality]  England  might  not  have  en- 
tered the  war" ;  for,  said  he,  "The  question  of  whether 
Britain  would  be  safe  if  an  aggressive  military  power 
acquired  a  commanding  position  on  the  Channel  is 
quite  another  affair.  It  would  doubtless  be  a  grave 
menace  to  Britain  for  such  a  power  to  absorb  Belgium 
and  the  Northeastern  coast  of  France." 

With  this  exception,  every  gentleman  conversed  with 
said  quite  frankly  that  Great  Britain  would  have  en- 
tered the  conflict  regardless  of  Belgium,  although  all 
of  them  emphasized  what  they  called  the  Belgian  "out- 
rage." A  composite  of  the  views  of  these  men,  liberal 
and  conservative,  was  that  Great  Britain  could  not 
afford  to  see  France  crushed;  or  to  permit  Germany 
to  get  a  foothold  on  the  Channel;  or  to  allow  her  to 
become  strong  enough  to  contest  or  even  question 
Great  Britain's  mastery  of  the  seas;  or  that  Great 
Britain  is  committed  to  the  doctrine  of  "the  balance 
of  power"  which  British  statesmen  first  formulated 
and  which  Germany's  growing  strength  was  threaten- 
ing. 

And  every  one  of  them  said  that  if  Germany  is  not 
beaten  now,  "it  will  be  our  turn  next."  Just  as  in 
France  it  was  agreed  that  if  France  had  let  Germany 


342     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

defeat  Russia,  "it  would  have  been  our  turn  next," 
so  in  England  the  common  expression  among  support- 
ers of  the  war  was  that  if  England  had  let  Germany 
defeat  Russia  and  France,  "it  would  have  been  our 
turn  next."  In  both  England  and  France  it  seemed 
to  be  taken  for  granted  that  Germany  could  beat  any 
one  of  the  Allies  or,  possibly,  any  two  of  them  com- 
bined; and  that  the  safety  of  each  required  the  united 
effort  of  all. 

Thus  the  consensus  of  competent  opinion  was  that 
the  British  government  would  have  plunged  into  the 
maelstrom  of  blood  even  though  Belgium  had  gone 
untouched  by  German  hands. 

Yet,  so  firmly  fixed  in  the  American  mind  was  the 
opinion  that  Great  Britain  had  declared  war  solely  and 
only  because  of  the  violation  of  Belgian  neutrality, 
that  the  general  opinion  of  instructed  men  of  all  par- 
ties in  London,  that  Great  Britain  would  have  entered 
the  war  regardless  of  the  Belgian  question,  came  as 
a  distinct  and  unpleasant  shock. 

So  while  those  sincere  and  powerful  men  and  con- 
summate politicians,  Mr.  Asquith  and  Mr.  Lloyd- 
George,  in  their  public  appeals  during  the  first  months 
of  the  war,  gave  the  Belgian  invasion  as  the  one  rea- 
son for  Great  Britain's  plunging  into  Armageddon, 
yet  in  March,  1915,  few  could  be  found  who  were 
willing  to  say  that  this  was  the  exclusive  cause  of  Great 
Britain's  action. 

Indeed,  it  was  related  that,  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  Liberal  government  made  its  fateful  decision  a 
large  number  of  Liberals  were  sharply  discontented. 
Among  these  were  some  important  men.  So  grave, 


WAR    CONDITIONS    IN    ENGLAND    343 

it  was  declared,  was  the  dissent  that  three  men, 
conspicuous  in  British  politics,  resigned  from  the 
government.  These  were  Lord  Merely,  John  Burns 
and  Charles  Trevelyan.  In  March,  1915,  it  was 
openly  charged  that  so  extensive  was  the  disaffec- 
tion in  the  Liberal  party  when  war  was  decided 
upon,  that  the  government,  not  being  certain  that  it 
could  command  sufficient  strength  within  its  own 
party,  made  a  deal  with  the  leaders  of  the  compact 
opposition,  which  was  and  is  hot  for  the  war,  to  sup- 
port the  government  in  its  war  measures ;  and  that  in 
return  the  government  agreed  to  drop  all  contested 
legislation  while  the  war  lasted. 

This  meant,  it  was  asserted,  that  the  program  of 
Liberal  legislation,  certainly  its  most  vital  parts,  to 
which  the  government  and  Liberal  party  were  pledged, 
was  to  be  indefinitely  postponed.  The  general  terms 
of  this  agreement  were  even  reduced  to  writing,  it  was 
said,  in  a  letter  which  passed  between  Mr.  Asquith 
for  the  government  and  Mr.  Bonar  Law  and  Lord 
Lansdowne  for  the  opposition.  There  are  those  in 
England  who  bitterly  denounce  this  as  a  betrayal  of 
the  Liberal  party  by  the  government;  and  some  un- 
usually bold  men  openly  and  acidly  say  so. 

At  the  very  outset  this  body  of  English  sentiment 
felt  outraged  that  Sir  Edward  Grey's  "secret  diplo- 
macy," as  they  called  it,  had  pledged  the  honor  of  the 
British  nation  to  support  France  in  a  war  with  Ger- 
many without  the  British  people  being  permitted  to 
know  anything  about  it  until  too  late.  Neither  the 
British  people  nor  even  Parliament,  said  these  men, 
were  advised  of  what  these  men  call  Sir  Edward 


344     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

Grey's  "secret  promise"  to  France  until  he  announced 
it  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  August  third,  nineteen 
fourteen,  when  it  was  impossible  to  escape  its  con- 
sequences. 

"Is  it  not  monstrous,"  exclaimed  Charles  Trevelyan, 
"that  a  people  are  only  told  on  the  eve  of  war  that 
they  must  go  into  it  because  a  secret  agreement  made 
long  before  by  a  concealed  diplomacy  has  bound  the 
honor  of  a  nation  to  that  course?" 

"The  Liberal  party  and  the  nation  were  led  up  to 
the  guns  blindfolded,"  declared  Bernard  Shaw.* 

On  the  other  hand,  Sir  Edward  Grey  and  his  friends 
denied  that  the  British  foreign  minister  made  any 
pledge  which  bound  Great  Britain.  In  his  historic 
speech  of  August  third  Sir  Edward  Grey  told  the 
House  that  in  1906,  when  questioned  as  to  what  Great 
Britain  would  do  in  case  of  war  between  France  and 
Germany,  he  had  expressed  only  his  personal  view  that 
British  public  opinion  "would  have  rallied  to  the  mate- 
rial support  of  France." 

But  in  pursuance  of  this  and  at  the  request  of 
France,  asserted  the  critics  of  Sir  Edward  Grey,  confer- 
ences followed  between  the  French  and  British  naval 
and  military  experts  for  the  purpose  of  making  the 
joint  military  and  naval  action  of  France  and  Great 
Britain  effective  against  Germany  in  a  practical  way. 
Out  of  these  Franco-British  naval  and  military  confer- 
ences, it  was  said,  came  the  mutual  placing  of  the 
British  and  French  fleets;  so  that,  when  the  present 
war  burst  upon  Europe  and  apparently  long  before, 
the  French  fleet  was  concentrated  in  the  Mediterra- 


*  See  Chapter  XV,  p.  385. 


WAR    CONDITIONS    IN    ENGLAND    345 

nean,  thus  releasing  the  bulk  of  the  British  fleet  for 
work  in  the  North  Sea  and  the  Channel. 

No  attempt  is  here  made  to  go  into  the  merits  of 
this  controversy.  It  existed  in  March,  1915,  and  the 
fact  is  here  recorded.  This  dispute  was  one  of  many 
circumstances  that,  even  then,  pointed  toward  a  cab- 
inet crisis.  The  discontent  of  many  "war  conserva- 
tives" with  what  they  called  the  government's  lack  of 
energy,  promptness  and  efficiency  was  another;  and 
there  were  still  others  much  more  serious. 

But  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  these  British  critics 
of  Sir  Edward  Grey  and  the  government  do  not  sup- 
port the  war,  now  that  Great  Britain  is  engaged  in 
the  struggle.  They  do  support  the  war,  though  not 
with  that  savage  aggressiveness  which  marks  the  utter- 
ance and  action  of  what  they  call  the  extreme  imperial- 
ists. They  say  that  it  was  wrong  (some  of  them  used 
the  expression  "infamously  wrong")  for  Sir  Edward 
Grey  and  the  government  to  have  created  what  they 
assert  to  be  conditions  which  made  it  inevitable  that 
Great  Britain  would  enter  the  struggle  while  keeping 
the  people  in  ignorance  of  the  situation;  some  of  them 
vigorously  declare  that  Great  Britain  ought  not  to  have 
gone  to  war  at  all.  But  now  that  the  die  is  cast,  even 
these  men  feel  that  their  country  must  go  through 
with  it. 

But  they  are  looking  to  the  end  of  it,  and  already 
have  formed  a  strong  organization  advocating  certain 
principles  to  govern  the  terms  of  peace  and  to  prevent 
such  another  catastrophe  as  the  present.  This  organi- 
zation is  known  as  the  Union  of  Democratic  Control. 
Its  principles  are : 


346     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

First : 

"No  province  shall  be  transferred  from  one  govern- 
ment to  another  without  consent  by  plebiscite  of  the 
population  of  such  province." 

Second : 

"No  Treaty,  Arrangement  or  Understanding  shall 
be  entered  upon  in  the  name  of  Great  Britain  without 
the  sanction  of  Parliament.  Adequate  machinery  for 
insuring  democratic  control  of  foreign  policy  shall  be 
created." 

Third: 

"The  Foreign  Policy  of  Great  Britain  shall  not  be 
aimed  at  creating  Alliances  for  the  purpose  of  main- 
taining the  'Balance  of  Power,'  but  shall  be  directed  to 
the  establishment  of  a  Concert  of  Europe  and  the  set- 
ting up  of  an  International  Council,  whose  delibera- 
tions and  decisions  shall  be  public." 

Fourth : 

"Great  Britain  shall  propose  as  part  of  the  Peace 
settlement  a  plan  for  the  drastic  reduction  by  consent 
of  the  armaments  of  all  the  belligerent  Powers,  and  to 
facilitate  that  policy  shall  attempt  to  secure  the  general 
nationalization  of  the  manufacture  of  armaments  and 
the  control  of  the  export  of  armaments  by  one  country 
to  another." 

This  organization  is  active.  Public  meetings  are 
being  held,  where  effective  speakers  appeal  to  the  peo- 
ple. Pamphlets  are  being  showered  throughout  the 
British  Islands.  Most  of  them  assail  the  whole  system 
of  "secret  diplomacy,"  of  which  they  assert  that  Sir 
Edward  Grey  and  the  government's  conduct  is  a  calam- 
itous example.  One  of  these  pamphlets  declares: 


"The  public  has  been  treated  as  though  foreign  af- 
fairs were  outside — and  properly  outside — its  ken. 
And  the  public  has  acquiesced.  Every  attempt  to 
shake  its  apathy  has  been  violently  assailed  by  spokes- 
men of  the  Foreign  Office  in  the  press.  ...  At 
the  present  moment  the  editorial  and  news  columns  of 
some  fifty  British  newspapers  echo  the  views  of  one 
man,  who  is  thus  able  to  superimpose  in  permanent 
fashion  upon  public  thought  the  dead  weight  of  his 
own  prejudices  or  personal  aims  and  intentions,  and 
to  exercise  a  potent  influence  upon  the  government  of 
the  day." 

A  pamphlet  by  Arthur  Ponsonby,  M.  P.,  says  that : 

"When  war  had  become  a  certainty  undebated  state- 
ments were  made  to  a  bewildered  and  entirely  ignorant 
House.  Neither  in  the  decisions  nor  in  the  policy 
which  led  to  the  decisions  was  there  the  smallest  exer- 
cise of  any  control  by  the  people  or  their  representa- 
tives." 

Another  pamphlet  entitled  War  and  the  Workers,  by 
J.  Ramsay  MacDonald,  M.  P.,  gives  the  working  men's 
view  of  the  war.  He  thus  describes, 

"The  hidden  currents  beneath,"  which  "were  flow- 
ing to  war.  The  Entente  was  brought  about  in  1904. 
Two  years  later  it  resulted  in  'military  conversations' 
withheld  at  first  from  the  Cabinet  and  never  revealed 
to  the  people  until  the  war  cloud  was  low  and  black 
over  their  heads.  Instantly  from  every  newspaper  at 


348     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

the  beginning  of  August  the  war  bugles  blew  (they 
had  been  blown  by  the  most  influential  ones  days  be- 
fore) ;  books  which  had  enjoyed  no  circulation  or 
repute  in  Germany  were  sold  by  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands;* accounts  of  how  we  got  into  the  war,  with 
salient  facts  obscured  or  left  out,  in  pamphlets  and 
leaflets  were  scattered  broadcast." 

As  to  "militarism"  Mr.  MacDonald  asserts  that : 

"What  is  known  as  Prussian  militarism  differs  only 
in  degree  from  British  militarism.  They  are  all 
strengthened  by  secret  diplomacy,  because  so  long  as 
the  cleansing  light  of  the  sun  falls  sparingly  on 
Foreign  Offices,  the  game  of  bluff,  squeeze  and  gam- 
bling risk  can  be  carried  on." 

A  pamphlet  on  War,  the  Offspring  of  Fear,  by  the 
Honorable  Bertrand  Russell,  states  the  views  of  cer- 
tain belligerent  countries,  in  what  he  declares  the  war 
to  be: 

"A  great  race  conflict,  a  conflict  of  Teuton  and  Slav, 
in  which  certain  other  nations,  England,  France  and 
Belgium,  have  been  led  into  co-operation  with  the 
Slav." 

In  a  remarkably  lucid  review  of  the  underlying 
causes  of  the  war,  Mr.  Russell  writes  that  "The  Aus- 
trians  are  a  highly  civilized  race,  half  surrounded  by 


*  Mr.  MacDonald  here  refers  undoubtedly  to  Bernhardi's  book. 


WAR    CONDITIONS    IN    ENGLAND    349 

Slavs  in  a  relatively  backward  state  of  culture."  He 
calls  "Servia  a  country  so  barbaric  that  a  man  can 
secure  the  throne  by  instigating  the  assassination  of 
his  predecessor,"  and  asserts  that  Servia  "is  engaged 
constantly  in  fomenting  the  racial  discontent  of  men 
of  the  same  race  who  are  Austrian  subjects.  Behind 
Servia  stands  the  all  but  irresistible  power  of  Russia." 
He  maintains  that  the  war  on  Germany's  part  is  not 
"aggressive  in  substance,  whatever  is  may  be  in  form. 
In  substance  it  is  defensive,  the  attempt  to  preserve 
central  Europe  for  a  type  of  civilization  indubitably 
higher  and  of  more  value  to  mankind  than  that  of  any 
Slav  state." 

Mr.  Russel  thus  puts  the  German  case : 
"The  Germans  could  not  stand  by  passively  while 
Russia  destroyed  Austria;  honor  and  interest  alike 
made  such  a  course  impossible.  They  were  bound  by 
their  alliance,  and  they  felt  convinced  that  if  they  were 
passive  it  would  be  their  turn  next  to  be  overrun  by 
the  Russian  hordes." 

As  to  England,  Mr.  Russell  contends  that 
"Fear  of  the  German  navy  led  us  to  ally  ourselves 
with  France  and  Russia."   He  says   that  England's 
fears  "have  had  to  be  carefully  nursed." 

In  the  election  of  1910  Mr.  Russell  testifies  that: 
"I  came  upon  a  voter  who  firmly  believed  that,  if 
Liberals  won,  the  Germans  would  be  in  the  country 
within  a  fortnight.  ...  A  continuous  stream 
of  attacks  on  Germany  in  newspapers  and  magazines 
have  made  men  feel  the  Germans  capable  of  any  act 
of  sudden  brigandage  or  treacherous  attack. 

"Plain  men  have  seen  a  confirmation  of  these  feel- 


350     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

ings  in  the  violation  of  Belgium,  though  every  stu- 
dent of  strategy  has  known  for  many  years  past  that 
this  must  be  an  inevitable  part  of  the  next  Franco- 
German  war,  and  although  Sir  E.  Grey  expressly 
stated  that  if  it  did  not  occur  he  could  still  not  prom- 
ise neutrality." 

A  powerfully  written  pamphlet  by  Norman  Angell 
assails  "militarism,"  but  vigorously  combats  the  idea 
of  "crushing  Germany  for  good  and  all."  In  this  bril- 
liant essay  is  the  following  passage : 

"The  Germans  are  of  all  the  peoples  of  Europe  the 
most  nearly  allied  to  ourselves  in  race  and  blood;  in 
all  the  simple  and  homely  things  our  very  language  is 
the  same — and  every  time  that  we  speak  of  house  and 
love,  father  and  mother,  son  and  daughter,  God  and 
man,  work  and  bread,  we  attest  to  common  origins  in 
the  deepest  and  realest  things  that  affect  us.  Our 
religious  history  is  allied;  our  political  ties  have  in  the 
past  been  many.  Our  Royal  Family  is  of  German  de- 
scent." 

Nor  are  the  above  the  strongest  of  the  statements. 
Another  pamphlet,  by  H.  N.  Brails  ford,  entitled  The 
Origins  of  the  Great  War,  says  that : 

"It  was  our  secret  naval  commitment  to  France  and 
our  fatal  entanglement  through  ten  years  in  the  strug- 
gle for  an  European  balance  of  power,  which  sent  our 
fleets  to  sea.  .  .  .  Their  [the  Servians']  morals  and 
their  politics  belong  to  the  Middle  Ages.  .  .  .  The 
officers  who  .  .  .  murdered  his  queen  [when  they  as- 
sassinated King  Alexander]  mutilated  her  corpse,  and 


WAR   CONDITIONS    IN   ENGLAND    351 

flung  it  naked  into  the  streets  of  Belgrade,  gave  the 
measure  of  their  own  social  development.  .  .  .  The 
Pan-Slavists  have  brought  the  whole  of  European  civ- 
ilization to  a  test  which  may  come  near  submerging  it, 
in  order  to  accomplish  their  dream  of  racial  unity." 

After  a  bold  analysis  of  the  cause  of  the  conflict,  in 
which  he  traces  the  activities  of  what  he  calls  the  "Pan- 
Slavists,"  Mr.  Brailsford  makes  such  remarks  as  these : 

"We  are  taking  a  parochial  view  of  Armageddon  if 
we  allow  ourselves  to  imagine  that  it  is  primarily  a 
struggle  for  the  independence  of  Belgium  and  the  fu- 
ture of  France.  ...  It  is,  to  my  mind,  an  issue  so 
barbarous,  so  remote  from  any  real  interest  or  con- 
cern of  our  daily  life  in  these  islands,  that  I  can  only 
marvel  at  the  illusions,  and  curse  the  fatality  which 
have  made  us  belligerents  in  this  struggle.  ...  A 
mechanical  fatality  has  forced  France  into  this  strug- 
gle, and  a  comradeship,  translated  by  secret  commit- 
ments into  a  defensive  alliance,  has  brought  us  into 
the  war  in  her  wake.  It  is  no  real  concern  of  hers  or 
of  ours.  .  .  .  No  call  of  the  blood,  no  imperious 
calculation  of  self-interest,  no  hope  for  the  future  of 
mankind  requires  us  to  side  with  Slav  against  Teuton. 
.  .  .  If  we  had  to  make  the  choice  in  cold  blood, 
most  of  us  would  prefer  the  more  tolerant  and  more 
civilized  German  influence.  .  .  .  Enthusiasts  for 
this  hateful  war  may  applaud  it  as  an  effort  to  'destroy 
German  militarism'.  That  is  a  meaningless  phrase."* 

It  is  not  pretended  that  these  quotations  give  even 
a  part  of  the  argument  or  express  the  spirit  of  these 


*  Each  of  these  pamphlets  quoted  from  was  published  by  "The 
Union  of  Democratic  Control." 


352     WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

extraordinary  pamphlets.  The  notable  fact  is  that 
such  statements  were  made  in  print  under  the  names 
of  reputable  Englishmen  and  scattered  broadcast 
throughout  the  United  Kingdom  during  the  close  of 
the  first  period  of  the  war.  This  fact  is  here  set  down 
because  it  can  not  be  ignored,  in  drawing  the  outlines 
of  the  British  situation  as  it  existed  in  March,  1915, 
and  also  because  of  the  forcible  contrast  it  presented 
with  the  state  of  French  or  German  opinion. 

The  critics  of  the  methods  by  which  Great  Brit- 
ain was  brought  to  join  the  Allies  were  savagely  as- 
sailed by  at  least  a  part  of  the  popular  press.  Also,  one 
was  told  time  and  again  that  the  men  voicing  these 
opinions  "amount  to  nothing."  But  so  far  at  least  as 
their  peace  proposals  are  concerned,  for  which  the 
Union  of  Democratic  Control  is  agitating,  they  cer- 
tainly do  amount  to  a  great  deal.  This  organization 
and  its  leaders  are  making  headway  in  their  crusade 
against  what  they  call  "secret  diplomacy." 

But  whatever  British  public  opinion  may  have  been 
heretofore,  or  may  be  hereafter,  it  is  certain  that  in 
March  of  1915  most  of  it  was  decidedly  warlike  and 
whetted  to  a  keen  edge  of  bitterness.  "The  Huns" 
was  the  term  commonly  applied  to  the  Germans,  and 
this,  too,  by  respectable  .and  important  newspapers. 
One  favorite  description  of  the  Germans  was  "The 
Pirates."  The  Daily  Express,  of  March  8,  1915,  called 
Germany,  "Europe's  kitchen  wench  decked  in  her  mis- 
tress' clothes  and  trespassing  in  the  drawing-room." 
The  warlike  voice  was  loud,  clear  and  savage;  those 
who  oppose  the  war  were  either  silent  or  spoke  guard- 
edly in  private  conversations  except  here  and  there 


WAR   CONDITIONS    IN   ENGLAND    353 

where  an  uncommonly  fearless  one  uttered  what  -he 
felt. 

While  moderate-minded  men  who  heartily  support 
the  war  frowned  upon  extravagant  statements,  it 
seemed  probable  that  extreme  views  were  held  by  great 
numbers  of  ultra-warlike  people.  John  Bull,  a  penny 
weekly,  said  to  have  immense  circulation,  voiced  this 
popular  sentiment  in  sledgehammer  fashion  which 
appealed  to  the  bellicose  British  fancy.  John  Bull 
declared  that  the  "Kaiser  is  a  lunatic;"  it  called  him 
"The  Butcher  of  Berlin,"  "that  mongrel  Attila,"  "the 
Mad  Monarch,"  "the  fiend  of  hell  let  loose  on  civiliza- 
tion," "the  foul  violator  of  women,  the  cowardly  mur- 
derer of  old  men  and  little  children."  This  penny 
weekly  said  that  the  German  Emperor  will  "be  known 
to  infamy  forever  as  William  the  Damned" ;  and  that 
"Nothing  short  of  the  personal  chastisement  of  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  can  appease  the  justice  of  high  Heaven  or 
the  righteous  wrath  of  men.  No  principle  of  equity 
would  be  outraged  if  he  were  blown  from  the  cannon's 
mouth." 

John  Bull  stated  the  reason  of  Germany's  antago- 
nism to  Great  Britain  thus : 

"Controlling  the  seas  and  the  markets  of  the  world, 
and  possessing  all  the  colonies  worth  having,  the  Brit- 
ish Empire  stood  always  in  the  way  of  outlet  for  ex- 
panding German  trade  and  population." 

And  said  John  Bull, 

"The  mad  Kaiser  has  been  scheming  and  planning 
the  overthrow  of  the  British  Empire." 


354     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

This  popular  war  periodical  assumed,  of  course,  that 
the  Allies  would  soon  overwhelm  Germany — nothing 
else  was  thinkable;  and  John  Bull  thus  editorially 
sketched  for  the  British  eye  The  Glory  that  Shall  Be: 

"This  war  is  to  be  the  precursor  of  a  new  era  for 
the  British  race  and  Empire.  .  .  .  The  German  fleet 
must  be  swept  from  the  face  of  the  seas.  .  .  . 
No  false  notions  of  humanity  or  of  economy  must  be 
permitted  to  hinder  the  work  of  destruction.  .  .  . 
From  the  close  of  this  war  Germany  shall  use  the 
waterways  of  the  world  by  the  courtesy  of  Britain." 
And,  "When  it  comes  to  peace  we  must  assert  our- 
selves as  the  predominant  partner.  .  .  .  For 
the  Huns  there  can  be  no  readmission  to  the  free  com- 
monwealth of  Europe.  .  .  .  Britain  shall  re- 
cover her  challenged  supremacy  in  the  western  frater- 
nity of  nations.  .  .  .  We  shall  not  disarm"* 

In  an  editorial  entitled  Not  a  Vestige  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire  to  be  Left,  John  Bull  declared  that 
Germany  "must  be  wiped  off  the  map  of  Europe."  In 
still  another  editorial  it  described  the  doom  of  Ger- 
many and  the  destiny  of  Great  Britain  according  to 
the  divine  plan  as  follows : 

"  'God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way  His  wonders  to 
perform';  and  the  wonder  He  is  now  performing  is 
the  riddance  of  Europe,  and  mankind,  of  the  Teutonic 
menace  to  His  Scheme  of  Things.  That  scheme,  as 
clearly  as  human  intelligence  can  comprehend  any- 

*  The  italics  are  those  of  the  paper. 


WAR   CONDITIONS    IN   ENGLAND    355 

thing,  was  and  is  that,  for  good  or  ill,  He  has  placed 
the  destiny  of  the  Earth  in  the  hands  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  with  the  Latins  as  their  natural  allies. 
All  else  is  accidental,  or  caprice;  it  can  not  affect  the 
final  order  of  the  world." 

Another  penny  weekly,  The  Passing  Show,  was 
quite  as  hard  on  the  Emperor  as  was  John  Bull.  The 
Passing  Show  assured  its  readers  that  the  German 
Emperor 

"Is  a  Mohammedan,  a  Lutheran  and  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic as  the  humor  suits  him ;  but  his  taste  in  neckties  is 
vulgar;  his  mind  is  that  of  a  third-rate  hooligan  with 
three  strains  of  madness  in  his  blood.  .  .  .  He  has 
infected  his  people  to-day  with  contagious  insanity." 

This  popular  journal  avowed  that  in  and  near  Lon- 
don "are  a  thousand  expectant  mothers.  They  are 
refugee  Belgian  girls  and  women.  Some  of  them  are 
nuns ;  others  are  girls  of  sixteen ;  all  of  them  have  been 
ravished  by  drunken  German  officers.  .  .  .  These 
crimes  were  arranged,  provoked  and  condoned  by  the 
Kaiser." 

This  paper's  conclusion  is  that 

"The  Hohenzollern  brood  must  be  exterminated." 
For,  "if  we  leave  to  a  time  of  peace  the  question  of  the 
treatment  of  the  Lord  High  Hun  he  will  not  only  get 
off  cheaply,  but  may  remain  on  the  throne  of  Prussia 
and  be  succeeded  by  a  degenerate  cracksman,  who  is 


356     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

neither  gentleman  nor  sportsman,  as  some  burglars 
have  been  known  to  be." 

As  to  the  German  Emperor  this  penny  weekly  said : 

"If  the  Kaiser  is  really  insane,  let  us  treat  him  as  a 
criminal  lunatic";  but,  "If  the  Kaiser  is  found  to  be 
sane,  hang  him  as  high  as  Haman,"  and  Passing  Show 
seemed  to  assume  that  "we  are  going  to  hang  six  Ger- 
man generals." 

British  labor  papers  struck  quite  a  different  chord. 
In  an  editorial,  The  Atrocious  Atrocity  Stories,  the 
Herald  [London]  declared  that : 

"Tales  of  the  torturing  of  the  wounded,  of  slit 
wrists  and  of  the  mutilation  of  nuns  and  school  girls 
served  well  their  twofold  purpose.  They  were  at  one 
and  the  same  time  a  stimulus  to  recruiting  and  the 
gratification  of  that  particular  species  of  lustful  insan- 
ity which  in  times  of  peace  takes  its  pleasures  in 
other  and  equally  infamous  forms.  But  when  it  was 
discovered  that  these  stories  were  not  only  incapable 
of  proof,  but  that  the  vast  majority  of  them  were 
capable  of  disproof;  when  there  was  a  provoking  ab- 
sence of  handless  children,  searched  the  mongers  never 
so  hard;  .  .  .  there  was  a  reaction  to  decent 
silence,  but  not  for  long.  This  time  the  stories  con- 
cern themselves  with  a  wholesale  outraging  of  nuns 
and  school  girls.  .  .  .  Make  but  your  lie  in- 
famous and  vile  enough,  and  it  will  be  believed.  So 
much  was  proved  up  to  the  hilt  in  the  earlier  series  of 


WAR   CONDITIONS    IN   ENGLAND    357 

stories ;  so  much  is  being  proved  in  the  later.  As  be- 
fore, every  town  and  village  sheltered  handless  chil- 
dren, so  now  every  convent  is  supposed  to  harbor  out- 
raged and  pregnant  nuns.  Yet  not  one  solitary  case 
of  either  infamy  has  been  produced  that  could  survive 
the  easiest  scrutiny,  and  not  one  will  be  produced." 

In  March,  1915,  there  was  in  England  no  such  solid 
and  unbroken  certainty  of  victory  as  was  found  in 
either  France  or  Germany.  Still,  the  bulk  of  British 
opinion  was  sure  and  undoubting.  "So  far  as  the 
result  is  concerned,  the  war  is  over  now,"  said  one  of 
the  most  influential  men  in  the  empire.  "The  Germans 
were  beaten  when  they  lost  the  battle  of  the  Marne," 
he  continued.  "They  themselves  knew  that  then  and 
they  know  it  now.*  Their  defeat  will  be  more  de- 
cisive than  any  in  history."  The  fact  that  this  im- 
portant man  was  more  carefully  advised  on  conditions 
in  the  various  countries  at  war  than  most  persons  in 
England  outside  of  the  government  entitled  his  opin- 
ion to  very  thoughtful  consideration. 

"The  Allies  will  win  crushingly  and  quickly,"  was 
the  judgment  of  a  prominent  American  in  a  position 
to  know  the  real  facts.  "The  Allies  outnumber  the 
Germans  heavily,"  he  explained;  "Great  Britain  has 
swept  German  commerce  from  the  seas,  bottled  up  the 
German  navy,  blockaded  Germany's  ports  and  con- 
trols the  ocean  so  completely  that  it  literally  is  true 
to-day  that  'Britannia  rules  the  waves.'  Then  the 
English  have  money — they  are  so  rich  that  they  do 
not  know  how  rich  they  are." 

*  This  conversation  occurred  March  15,  1915. 


358     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"Our  offensive  will  end  them,"  said  a  chance  ac- 
quaintance on  a  train.  He  was  a  prosperous  English 
business  man  belonging  to  the  upper  strata  of  the  mid- 
dle class. 

"That  will  begin  in  May,  will  it  not?"  I  inquired  of 
this  commercial  strategist. 

"Oh,  no!"  he  answered,  "two  or  three  weeks  from 
now  (March  7)  we  shall  be  on  the  move.  May!  Why 
we  shall  have  them  over  the  Rhine  by  May !" 

"Wouldn't  you  be  willing  to  put  it  as  late  as  June  ?" 
I  suggested. 

"June!"  he  exclaimed.  "The  whole  thing  will  be 
over  by  June !  Germany  will  be  smashed  flat  by  that 
time.  You  see,"  he  elucidated,  "they  have  no  food. 
There  are  bread  riots  now  in  Berlin.  They  are  dis- 
couraged, too.  They  know  they  are  beaten.  And 
don't  forget  their  working  men.  They  are  clamoring 
for  peace  right  now." 

This  gentleman  did  not  know  his  traveling  compan- 
ion, nor  that  his  fellow  journeyer  had  just  come  from 
Germany ;  he  thought  that  he  was  giving  sound  infor- 
mation to  an  American  fellow  business  man.  And  he 
was  perfectly  sure  of  his  facts.  Also,  there  was  no 
alloy  in  his  sincerity.  So  much  of  his  comment  is  here 
given  because  it  fairly  states  the  belief  of  Englishmen 
of  his  class. 

"How  long  will  the  war  last  ?"  was  the  question  put 
to  a  cab  driver. 

"Not  long,  sir." 

"Do  you  think  the  Allies  will  win?" 

"Yes,  sir.     England  is  sure  to  win,  sir." 

On  the  contrary,  in  an  uncommonly  thoughtful  and 


WAR   CONDITIONS    IN   ENGLAND    359 

frank  leader  the  London  Post,  of  March  17,  1915, 
analyzed  the  situation  and,  while  concluding  that  the 
Allies  will  be  victorious,  said : 

"But  we  admit  that  Fate  hangs  upon  a  fine  edge,  and 
there  is  no  certainty  in  this  matter :  there  is  only  hope 
and  determination.  .  .  .  We  have  just  barely 
held  our  own.  ...  It  must  be  a  long  pull,  a 
strong  pull,  and  a  pull  all  together  if  the  enemy  is  to  be 
hoisted  across  the  border." 

The  London  Daily  Express,  of  March  13,  1915,  edi- 
torially declared:  "We  agree  that  talk  of  premature 
triumph  is  absurd." 

One  of  the  cleverest  of  British  public  men,  who  is  an 
extremist  for  the  war,  toward  the  end  of  a  long,  bril- 
liant and  transparently  honest  review  of  the  whole  sub- 
ject wrote :  "My  own  fear  is,  not  that  we  shall  flag  in 
the  struggle,  but  that  we  may,  from  time  to  time,  get 
out  of  hand.  It  may  be  that  we  shall  be  beaten.  If 
so,  we  shall  at  least  have  done  our  best.  .  .  . 
But  I  do  not  think  that  ...  we  shall  be  beaten." 

A  private  English  letter  from  one  whose  sons  are 
in  the  army  and  whose  hatred  of  the  Germans  is  fran- 
tic and  unreasoning,  and  loyalty  to  Britain  passionate 
and  exalted,  contained  the  following:  "But  we  are 
so  tired  of  this  war.  We  think  of  nothing,  talk  of 
nothing,  but  peace." 

Yet  it  is  believed  that  such  expressions  did  not  re- 
flect the  general  feeling;  undoubtedly  most  people  in 
England  had  sturdy  faith  in  the  success  of  the  Allies. 
But  it  was  undeniable  that  doubt  did  exist  in,  at  least, 


360     WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

a  few  minds  and  that  weariness  of  the  war  was  affect- 
ing some  who  were  its  staunch  supporters. 

Another  surface  contrast  of  conditions  impressed 
with  uncanny  grotesqueness  the  observer  fresh  from 
France  and  Germany.  The  greatest  war  in  the  whole 
course  of  human  history  lacked  but  four  months  of 
its  first  year  of  carnage;  grave  editorials  penned,  one 
might  almost  say  with  the  heart's  blood  of  the  writer, 
so  sincere  was  their  appeal,  informed  the  nation  that 
its  existence  was  at  hazard,  and  the  people  that  pov- 
erty, humiliation  and  slavery  would  be  the  result  of 
defeat;  yet  sport  and  games  of  all  kinds  were  going  on 
as  usual.  Bitter  lashings  from  press,  pulpit  and  ros- 
trum had  not  turned  the  British  youth  from  his  favor- 
ite amusements. 

Against  loud  protests  from  newspapers  and  public 
men,  England's  premier  sporting  institution,  the 
Jockey  Club,  resolved  on  March  16th,  "that  racing 
should  be  carried  out  where  the  local  conditions  per- 
mit." The  Jockey  Club's  debate  filled  an  entire  page 
of  the  Daily  Telegraph.  One  of  the  best  known  peers 
of  the  realm,  in  argument  for  holding  the  next  meet 
as  usual,  said  that, 

"The  Russians  have  been  going  on  racing  during 
the  whole  period  of  the  war,  the  Belgians  had  large 
studs  in  this  country  and  were  racing  as  hard  as  they 
could,  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  as  has  already  been 
mentioned  at  the  meeting,  ran  a  greyhound  in  the 
Waterloo  Cup,"  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

The  prevailing  opinion  was  that  to  discontinue  rac- 


WAR   CONDITIONS   IN   ENGLAND    361 

ing  for  the  war  would  discourage  the  breeding  of  fine 
horse-flesh,  disappoint  the  lovers  of  sport  and  give  the 
Germans  the  impression  that  the  British  people  were 
downhearted. 

Still  another  contrast  was  the  condition  of  British 
business.  It  was  much  better  than  that  of  Germany 
and  out  of  all  proportion  to  that  of  France.  The  cas- 
ual observer  could  detect  little  difference  in  business 
between  that  of  peace  time  and  that  of  this  hour  of 
Great  Britain's  deadliest  emergency.  The  catch- 
word, "Business  as  usual,"  coined  by  Lloyd-George 
when  Great  Britain  unleashed  the  dogs  of  war,  seemed 
to  entertain  the  popular  fancy. 

At  the  very  moment  when  the  most  desperate  and 
dramatic  efforts  were  being  made  to  strengthen  the 
British  army  and  supply  it  with  equipment,  enthusias- 
tic meetings  of  business  men  were  planning  the  capture 
of  German  overseas  commerce  and  devising  means  for 
taking  over  the  German  dye  industry. 

While  business  men  acquainted  with  trade  condi- 
tions said  that  normal  business  had  fallen  off,  yet  their 
claim  was  plainly  true  that  the  volume  of  British  busi- 
ness was  greater  than  that  of  all  the  other  countries 
at  war  put  together.  This,  of  course,  was  due  to 
Great  Britain's  lordship  of  the  seas — a  notable  fact 
which  British  newspapers  and  magazines  kept  well  to 
the  front.  For  example,  in  an  able  editorial  on  an- 
other subject  the  Daily  Telegraph  said :  "We  pos- 
sess the  control  of  the  sea  communications  of  the 
world;"  and  again,  that  "We  and  not  the  enemy  com- 
mand the  seas." 

The  above  are  a  few  samples  of  a  long  catalogue  of 


362     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

dissimilarities  between  British  wartime  conditions  and 
those  of  the  two  nations  most  closely  locked  in  mortal 
combat  on  the  other  side  of  the  Channel.  It  is  not  the 
purpose  of  this  chapter  to  explain  the  reasons  for 
these  antithetical  phenomena,  but  merely  to  state  their 
existence.  Like  the  other  chapters  of  this  book,  the 
present  one  is  a  bare  record  of  the  facts  with  earnest 
effort  to  state  them  in  just  and  truthful  proportion. 
To  one  conclusion  they  would  seem  to  lead :  that  the 
history  of  this  war  should  be  penned  by  some  scholar 
who  will  write  not  only  after  time  shall  have  some- 
what cooled  the  tremendous  passions  now  erupting, 
but  also  at  the  greatest  possible  distance  from  the 
countries  and  peoples  involved.  Perhaps  to  an  Amer- 
ican historian  yet  unborn  will  fall  the  herculean  task 
and  the  immortal  achievement  of  describing  for  com- 
ing ages  the  profound  causes  of  this  combat  of  the  na- 
tions and  of  weighing  justly  its  infinite  issues. 


XIV 

BRITISH  THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — I 

WHILE  it  may  be  said  that  British  public  opin- 
ion overwhelmingly  supports  the  war  now  that 
the  Empire  is  embarked  upon  the  sea  of  blood,  there 
was  disagreement,  at  the  close  of  the  war's  first  phase, 
as  to  the  cause  of  Great  Britain's  entering  the  conflict. 
In  France  and  Germany  opinion  was  found  to  be  un- 
broken as  to  the  reasons  which  brought  each  of  those 
countries  into  the  struggle.  But  in  England,  during 
March,  1915,  a  sharp  division  of  sentiment  appeared 
as  to  why  Great  Britain  was  plunged  into  this  mael- 
strom of  death. 

The  fact  that  most  informed  Englishmen  testified 
that  Belgium  was  not  the  only  if  indeed  it  was  even 
the  chief  force  that  moved  the  British  Empire  to  de- 
clare war,  was  as  notable  as  it  was  surprising  to  the 
American  investigator.  This  circumstance,  hereto- 
fore commented  upon,  is  so  important  to  Americans 
that  it  deserves  repetition. 

There  was  much  and  growing  controversy  over  what 
Sir  Edward  Grey's  British  critics  termed  his  "secret 
pledge"  made  to  France  ten  years  ago.  This,  it  was 
declared,  harnessed  the  British  people  to  the  chariot 
of  Mars,  without  their  knowledge  or  consent.  Sir 
Edward  Grey's  supporters  hotly  denied  that  he  made 

363 


364     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

what  amounted  to  a  "pledge";  his  opponents  vigor- 
ously reiterated  the  charge.* 

The  maintenance  of  the  principle  of  the  European 
"balance  of  power,"  so  clearly  stated  by  French  public 
men,  cropped  out  everywhere  in  the  talk  of  informed 
Englishmen  as  a  basic  condition  which  made  war  in- 
evitable. This  principle  was  upheld  by  some  and  at- 
tacked by  others. 

The  following  conversations  give  Americans  some 
glimpses  of  these  disputes.  In  comparison  with  the 
solidarity  of  French  and  German  sentiment  the  notable 
fact  was  that  controversy  existed  at  all  in  Great  Brit- 
ain. 

As  in  the  other  chapters  of  this  volume,  the  writer 
acts  merely  as  a  reporter  of  facts.  No  judgment  is 
here  ventured  as  to  the  merits  of  the  British  contro- 
versy or  as  to  the  verity  of  the  conflicting  statements 
which  both  sides  advanced  as  facts. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  German  and  French  conversa- 
tions, these  here  reproduced  were  written  out  and  sub- 
mitted to  the  gentleman  with  whom  the  conversation 
was  held;  and  each  of  them  carefully  revised  the  man- 
uscript for  publication. 

A  British  Statesman's  Survey 

One  of  Great  Britain's  foremost  statesmen  gave  the 
following  bird's-eye  view  of  the  events  leading  up  to 
the  war  and  of  its  possible  outcome.  At  his  request 
his  name  is  withheld. 

*  This  contention,  described  in  the  preceding  chapter,  is  again 
referred  to  because  it  is  the  root  of  one  of  the  troubles  now  vex- 
ing British  politics. 


BRITISH   THOUGHT  365 

"The  immediate  cause  of  Great  Britain's  entrance 
into  the  war,"  said  this  eminent  statesman,  "was  Ger- 
many's violation  of  Belgian  neutrality.  If  Germany 
had  not  made  that  mistake  Great  Britain  would  not 
have  taken  the  hostile  action  she  did  take  so  promptly 
and  unanimously." 

"It  has  been  suggested  that  the  arrangement  made 
on  behalf  of  the  British  government  with  the  French 
government  in  1906  to  support  France  in  case  of  war 
with  Germany  bound  Great  Britain  to  enter  the  con- 
flict," I  remarked. 

"There  was  no  such  arrangement,  nor  any  kind 
of  an  arrangement  binding  Great  Britain.  You  prob- 
ably refer  to  a  verbal  statement  of  a  responsible  min- 
ister as  to  what  he  thought  British  public  opinion 
would  demand  in  such  a  case.  But  Great  Britain 
made  no  binding  arrangement,  or  indeed  any  kind  of 
an  understanding  which  tied  Great  Britain  to  any 
course  of  action;"  and  I  was  referred  to  the  speech  of 
Sir  Edward  Grey  in  the  House  of  Commons  August 
3,  1914,  in  which  the  British  Foreign  Minister  care- 
fully explained  his  now  much-discussed  statement  to 
the  French  Ambassador  ten  years  ago. 

"Then  the  support  of  France  in  the  war  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  Great  Britain's  part  in  the  struggle? 
The  sole  cause  was  the  violation  of  Belgium's  neutral- 
ity?" I  inquired. 

"Not  the  sole  cause;  the  immediate  cause.  Of 
course,  back  of  the  Belgian  outrage  was  the  desire  of 
a  large  part  of  the  British  people  to  aid  France  in  any 
war  of  aggression  against  her.  We  did  not  wish  to 
see  France  crushed,  nor  indeed  could  we  afford  to 


366  -  WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

permit  her  destruction.  And  this  suggests  the  real 
source  of  the  war,  which  was  Germany's  settled  policy 
and  fixed  determination  to  become  the  predominant 
Power  of  Europe — the  mistress  of  Europe." 

"The  average  American  does  not  see  how  the  ambi- 
tion of  any  nation  to  become  what  is  called  'the  first 
Power'  hurts  in  a  practical  way  the  people  of  any  other 
country.  What  practical  disadvantage  to  the  plain  peo- 
ple of  any  country  is  there  in  some  other  country  claim- 
ing to  be  'the  first  Power'  ?"  I  inquired. 

"The  answer  to  that  arouses  one's  emotions.  Lib- 
erty is  something,  after  all,  is  it  not?  If  one  country 
becomes  the  predominant  Power,  the  affairs  of  another 
country  would  be  ordered  according  to  the  will  of  that 
predominant  Power.  Such  a  thing  is  not  to  be  thought 
of;  certainly  not  to  be  submitted  to.  No  Power  should 
become  predominant ;  and  when  any  Power  takes  steps 
to  secure  such  a  position  it  should  be  opposed.  And 
when,  as  one  of  those  steps,  such  power  is  proceeding 
to  crush  out  of  existence  a  neighboring  nation,  it 
should  be  resisted  to  the  uttermost.  That  was  the 
situation  which  confronted  the  world  in  August — 
Germany  securing  predominance  by  force  and,  in  do- 
ing so,  proceeding  to  destroy  France.  Could  there 
be  a  greater  cause  than  that  for  Great  Britain's  inter- 
ference ?" 

"Then  Belgium's  plight  was  not  the  controlling 
cause  of  England's  participation  in  the  war?"  I  ob- 
served. 

"It  was  the  cause  that  moved  the  British  nation  to 
action.  A  democracy  must  have  its  heart  stirred;  a 
democracy  acts  through  an  appeal  to  its  emotions  even 


BRITISH   THOUGHT  367 

more  than  to  its  reason.  Germany's  smashing  of  Bel- 
gium made  that  appeal  to  the  heart  of  the  British 
people.  It  aroused  them.  Although  not  the  deep 
cause  of  England's  action,  yet  the  Belgian  matter 
made  that  action  possible  and  indeed  compelled  it." 

"Was  this  support  of  France  and  opposition  to  Ger- 
many's ambitions  another  example  of  upholding  the 
principle  of  the  equilibrium  of  Europe,  which,  it  has 
been  stated,  is  Great  Britain's  traditional  policy?"  I 
inquired.  "It  has  been  said  by  many  writers,  and  ap- 
pears to  be  sustained  by  history,  that  Great  Britain,  as 
a  matter  of  protecting  her  vital  interests,  always  has 
opposed  any  continental  nation  which  at  that  particu- 
lar time  was  strongest,  and  seemed  likely,  if  unop- 
posed, to  become  the  predominant  Power. 

"Yes;  of  course,  we  always  did  that;  our  situation 
demands  it.  And  so  does  the  welfare  of  Europe." 

"It  has  been  stated  and  published  that  Germany 
asked  Great  Britain  to  stop  Russia  mobilizing  against 
Germany,  and  that  if  Great  Britain  had  done  this,  it 
would  have  prevented  the  war,"  I  suggested. 

"Such  a  request  was  absurd!  How  could  Great 
Britain  make  such  a  request  of  Russia?  It  meant 
telling  Russia  to  submit  to  'shining  armor'  as  in  1909." 

"What  of  the  outcome  of  the  war?  How  will  it 
end?" 

"It  is  a  hard  struggle.  We  shall  stick  it  out,  how- 
ever, that  is  certain.  The  British  nation  has  awak- 
ened to  the  situation  now.  I  think  it  reasonable  to 
conclude  that,  in  the  end,  this  means  victory  for  us." 

"Assuming  that  the  Allies  are  successful,  what  terms 
will  you  impose  on  Germany?  Since  this  is  a  democ- 


368     WHAT   IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

racy,  as  you  have  suggested,  there  must  be  some 
thought  forming  in  the  mind  of  the  people  as  to  what 
shall  be  done  after  you  have  won." 

"The  restoration  of  Belgium  would  be  one  thing 
that  may  be  spoken  of  as  a  certainty.  Then,  of  course, 
all  of  us  hope  that  some  arrangement  will  be  made 
which  will  prevent  any  such  war  as  this  in  future. 
Perhaps  that  might  mean  democracy  in  Germany.  At 
all  events,  the  aggressive  military  system  of  Germany 
should  be  broken  up." 

"How  would  that  be  done?".  I  asked. 

"That  can  not  be  thought  out;  it  must  come  as  a 
consequence." 

"I  have  heard  many  speak  of  the  dismemberment 
of  the  German  Empire  as  one  method  of  breaking  Ger- 
many's military  power;  indeed,  it  seems  to  be  in  the 
mind  of  the  man  in  the  street,"  I  observed. 

"It  is  hard  to  force  a  constitution  on  a  people,  isn't 
it  ?  They  must  arrange  their  own  government  to  suit 
themselves.  Still,  we  hope  that  something  like  that — • 
a  democracy  in  Germany — will  commend  itself  to  the 
German  people." 

British  Scholar,  Philosopher  and  Legislator 

Viscount  Bryce,  known  to  every  one  in  the  United 
States  as  the  author  of  The  American  Common- 
wealth, and  as  one  of  the  most  popular  ambassadors 
ever  accredited  to  our  government  from  any  country, 
was  brief  and  characteristically  clear  in  stating  the 
British  view  of  the  war.  So  familiar  are  Americans 


BRITISH   THOUGHT  369 

with  this  great  English  scholar,  diplomat  and  states- 
man that  no  personal  description  is  necessary. 

"England  went  into  this  war,"  said  Great  Britain's 
author-statesman,  "because  of  Germany's  wanton  vio- 
lation of  Belgium's  neutrality,  which  England  no  less 
than  Germany  had  guaranteed.  But  for  this  England 
might  not  have  entered  the  war,  and  it  was  assuredly 
this  cause  which  produced  the  unprecedented  unanim- 
ity which  the  British  people  have  shown  in  prosecuting 
a  war  which  is  involving  tremendous  sacrifices.  Then 
the  manner  in  which  Germany  has  conducted  the  war, 
especially  in  its  cruel  treatment  of  Belgium,  aroused 
the  British  people.  The  integrity  of  a  small  state  is 
as  important  as  that  of  a  large  one." 

"But  it  has  been  suggested  that  Great  Britain  did 
not  conform  to  this  view  in  the  Boer  War,  by  which 
she  absorbed  the  South  African  Republic  and  the 
Orange  Free  State,"  I  suggested. 

"I  was  against  that  war,  as  you  know,"  replied 
Lord  Bryce.  "I  did  not  approve  of  the  government's 
policy  at  that  time,  and  think  the  same  still.  Nor  do 
I  believe  it  had  the  general  moral  support  of  the  Brit- 
ish people.  But  the  present  war  has  this  moral  sup- 
port as  no  war  in  our  history  ever  had  before." 

"It  has  been  suggested  that  at  bottom  the  war  was 
caused  by  the  commercial  conflict  between  England 
and  Germany.  Is  it  the  British  view  that  there  are 
economic  grounds  for  the  war?"  I  inquired. 

"Many  Germans  have  said  so,"  replied  Lord  Bryce. 
"But  so  far  as  Great  Britain  is  concerned,  it  was  not 
any  commercial  or  economic  interests  that  brought 


370     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

her  into  this  struggle.  She  is  losing  economically  far 
more  by  it  than  any  sane  man  could  have  fancied  she 
could  gain." 

"The  leading  article  in  yesterday's  Times*  suggests 
that  the  real  cause  of  England's  attitude  in  the  war  is 
England's  vital  material  and  political  interest,  and  puts 
this  cause  of  Great  Britain's  action  above  the  violation 
of  Belgian  neutrality." 

"I  do  not  agree  with  that  editorial,"  remarked  Lord 
Bryce.  "I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  gentleman  who 
wrote  it  believes  that  he  is  correct  in  his  statements, 
but  I  think  him  quite  mistaken." 

"The  statement  made  in  the  Times  leader  that  Great 
Britain's  traditional  policy  is  to  oppose  any  country's 
becoming  the  predominant  Power  on  the  continent  has 
been  made  elsewhere;  and  I  find  it  the  view  of  in- 
formed men  in  several  countries.  Is  not  this  a  phase 
of  the  principle  of  the  equilibrium  of  Europe?" 

"There  may  be  persons  who  take  that  view,  but  it 
is  not  the  view  of  our  people,"  said  Lord  Bryce.  "The 
so-called  principle  was  used  to  justify  many  unwise 
wars  in  past  centuries,  and  I  should  be  very  sorry  to 
see  it  recognized  now.  The  question  of  whether 
Britain  would  be  safe  if  an  aggressive  military  power 
acquired  a  commanding  position  on  the  Channel  is 
quite  another  affair.  It  would  doubtless  be  a  grave 
menace  to  Britain  were  such  a  power  to  absorb  Bel- 
gium and  the  northeastern  coast  of  France." 

"In  case  the  Allies  are  successful  in  this  war,  what 
terms  will  they  impose  on  Germany?"  I  asked. 


*  London  Times  of  March  8,  1915.    See  Chapter  XIII,  pp.  339, 
340.    This  conversation  was  on  March  9,  1915. 


BRITISH   THOUGHT  371 

"Certainly  the  restoration  of  Belgium  and  payment 
for  the  destruction  and  damage  committed  in  that 
country — that  first  of  all,"  promptly  replied  Lord 
Bryce;  "and  then,  of  course,  also,  a  resettlement  in 
southeastern  Europe  and  western  Asia.  What  else, 
who  can  now  tell?  Of  course,  we  all  desire  some  ar- 
rangement which  may  save  Europe  from  any  such  war 
in  the  future.  The  armed  peace  of  the  last  few  years 
was  only  less  ruinous  economically  than  war  is  showing 
itself  now  to  be." 

"It  has  been  suggested  that  the  dismemberment  of 
the  German  Empire,  so  as  to  put  Germany  back  where 
she  was  before  1870,  would  accomplish  this." 

"Prophecy  is  idle  at  such  a  moment  as  this,"  said 
Lord  Bryce;  "but  if  you  ask  my  opinion,  I  disapprove 
any  such  idea  and  can  not  suppose  that  any  statesman 
seriously  thinks  of  trying  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the 
German  nation." 

"Do  you  feel  that  the  British  people  are  united  in 
support  of  the  war?" 

"Yes;  more  so  than  ever  they  were  united  before," 
earnestly  responded  Lord  Bryce.  "Deeply  as  they 
deplore  such  a  catastrophe  and  widespread  as  has  been 
the  sorrow  it  has  brought  to  every  class  in  the  loss 
of  those  dearest  to  them.  The  educated  classes  espe- 
cially have  been  bearing  a  larger  share  in  effort  and 
suffering  than  in  any  previous  war.  For  example, 
university  teachers  and  the  most  promising  students, 
men  whose  intellect  and  accomplishments  are  a  price- 
less asset  of  the  nation,  have  nearly  all  enlisted  and 
gone  to  the  front  to  fight  and  die  for  what  they  regard 
the  cause  of  liberty  and  civilization.  Oxford  and 


372     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

Cambridge  are  more  than  half  empty;  and  the  same 
is  happening  in  other  universities.  To  fight  for  free- 
dom and  humanity  against  Prussian  militarism  is  felt 
to  be  the  supreme  duty  of  the  moment." 

A  Typical  Conservative  British  Peer 

Lord  Newton  is  one  of  the  most  independent, 
courageous  and  outspoken  of  the  British  nobility.  He 
is  a  comparatively  young  man,  and  his  talk,  as  vigor- 
ous as  it  is  frank,  is  plain  and  to  the  point.  His  com- 
ments upon  the  industrial  and  social  conditions  are 
particularly  illuminating  and  valuable.  Our  conver- 
sation took  place  at  Lord  Newton's  London  house 
immediately  after  the  Commandeering  Bill  had  been 
passed,  and  this,  therefore,  naturally  was  the  first  sub- 
ject discussed. 

"What  is  the  real  meaning  of  the  bill  just  passed 
giving  the  government  power  to  commandeer  manu- 
facturing and  other  plants  for  war  purposes?" 

"No  doubt  about  it,"  answered  Lord  Newton,  "some 
of  the  laboring  classes  have  not  been  working  as  hard 
as  they  might.  I  do  not  mean  this  in  criticism  of 
them;  but  the  truth  is  that  they  do  not  yet  appreciate 
the  seriousness  of  this  situation.  They  see  no  neces- 
sity of  working  harder  nor  longer  than  usual;  they 
are  more  interested  in  a  slight  increase  of  wages  than 
in  the  national  crisis." 

"But  how  can  this  be  remedied  by  the  Commandeer- 
ing Bill?"  I  asked. 

"It  is  hard  to  say,"  said  Lord  Newton.  "The  pow- 
ers of  the  government  are  purposely  left  very  vague.  Of 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  373 

course,  after  all,  men  can't  be  forced  to  work;  and  the 
result  of  such  an  attempt  would  be  especially  unfortu- 
nate in  time  of  war.  Fighting  the  enemy  and  at  the 
same  time  facing  violent  labor  troubles  as  a  result  of 
forcing  unwilling  men  to  work  would  be  unfortunate. 
This  whole  unhappy  situation  is  a  result  of  our  volun- 
tary system.  Many  of  those  who  do  not  volunteer 
as  soldiers  do  not  seem  to  see  the  necessity  of  extra 
nor  unusual  exertion.  If  we  had  the  universal  com- 
pulsory system,  as  France,  Germany  and  every  other 
country  now  at  war  has,  and  as  we  should  have,  then 
there  would  be  no  refusal  to  supply  the  war  necessities 
of  the  nation.  Everybody  would  have  to  do  his  part. 
We  may  have  to  come  to  that  in  the  end.  I  have  been 
urging  it  for  a  long  time." 

"Why  should  the  Commandeering  Law  cover  the 
factories  and  docks  ?  Were  these  concerns  not  willing 
to  do  all  that  they  possibly  could  do  ?" 

"The  law  is  an  emergency  war  measure,  of  course," 
Lord  Newton  replied.  "Every  resource  of  the  nation 
must  be  used  for  the  war.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
charges  that  factories  and  other  industrial  concerns  are 
taking  advantage  of  the  war  to  make  undue  profits. 
The  law  gives  the  government  the  power  to  remove  all 
legal  restrictions  which  might  stand  in  the  way  of  any 
concern  turning  its  whole  productive  resources  to  sup- 
plying war  materials." 

"I  observe  that  already  a  certain  portion  of  the  la- 
boring classes  are  asking  that  the  principle  of  the  Com- 
mandeering Law  shall  be  extended  to  cover  foodstuffs 
and  other  necessities  of  life  and  their  prices.  Do  you 
anticipate  that  this  will  last  after  the  war  is  over? 


374     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

May  it  not  be  the  beginning  of  a  new  alignment  of 
parties  ?" 

"I  have  no  doubt,"  answered  Lord  Newton,  "that 
there  will  be  a  great  increase  in  Socialism  after  the 
war.  One  can  see  it  beginning  now.  The  men  who 
now  are  going  out  in  the  army  will  not  come  back  with 
the  same  views." 

"May  it  not  be,"  I  observed,  "that  men  who  left 
jobs  which  they  can  not  get  back  when  the  war  is  over 
and  men  who  had  no  jobs  when  they  enlisted,  having 
found  themselves  clothed,  fed  and  cared  for  as  return 
for  the  work  they  do  in  war,  will  insist  on  the  same 
care  in  return  for  the  work  they  are  willing  to  do  in 
time  of  peace?" 

"Yes,"  answered  Lord  Newton,  "that  is  certainly  a 
possibility,  and  a  serious  one.  As  I  have  said,  I  think 
it  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  war  will  bring  a  strong 
socialistic  tendency." 

"What  you  have  said  about  the  working  classes  not 
being  fully  awake  to  the  situation  suggests  this  ques- 
tion :  Do  all  the  people  understand  the  seriousness  of 
this  situation;  and  are  the  people  united  in  support  of 
the  war?" 

"Not  all  of  the  people,  I  am  sorry  to  say,"  answered 
Lord  Newton.  "There  are  a  large  number  who  do 
not  know  what  the  war  really  means,  and  there  are 
some  who  really  say  that  they  do  not  see  what  differ- 
ence it  would  make  to  them  even  if  the  German  Em- 
peror ruled  this  country.  However,  it  is  undoubtedly 
true  that  by  far  the  greatest  majority  heartily  support 
the  war." 

"There  has  been  some  dispute  as  to  the  real  cause  of 


BRITISH   THOUGHT  375 

England's  going  into  the  war.  We  in  America  under- 
stood that  Germany's  invasion  of  Belgium  was  the  sole 
and  only  cause,"  I  remarked. 

"Belgium  was  the  technical  cause,"  answered  Lord 
Newton.  "But  another  cause  was  our  own  self- 
preservation.  We  simply  had  to  help  France.  If  we 
had  allowed  Germany  to  defeat  France  it  would  have 
been  our  turn  next." 

"Does  not  that  motive  also  have  its  roots  far  back 
in  history?  Is  it  not  another  example  of  Great  Brit- 
ain's traditional  policy  first  formulated  by  Pitt,  but 
practised  by  Great  Britain  long  before  Pitt's  time  as 
well  as  since  the  Napoleonic  period,  that  Great  Britain 
would  be  against  any  continental  nation  which  threat- 
ened to  become  the  leading  Power  of  Europe?" 

"Yes;  and  quite  right,  too,"  answered  Lord  New- 
ton. "The  balance-of -power  policy  is  just  as  neces- 
sary to  our  safety  to-day  as  ever  it  was.  There  are 
those  in  England  who  say  that  the  principle  of  the 
equilibrium  of  Europe  is  out  of  date.  But  that  is  not 
true,  and  this  war  proves  that  it  is  not  true." 

"Has  there  been  any  suggestion  here  in  England 
that  the  government  could  have  prevented  the  war  by 
stating  in  advance,  when  asked  to  do  so  by  Russia  and 
France,  that  Great  Britain  would  support  those  coun- 
tries in  case  of  war  with  Germany?" 

"Yes,  there  has  been  some  complaint  of  Sir  Edward 
Grey's  indecision,"  Lord  Newton  answered.  "The 
government  did  not  appear  to  know  its  own  mind,  up 
to  the  last  moment.  The  Opposition  had  to  tell  the 
government  that  it  would  see  the  government  through 
the  war.  Lord  Lansdowne  and  Bonar  Law  gave  them 


376     WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

that  assurance.  Even  then  some  Liberals  did  not  want 
to  go  in." 

"Were  there  any  conditions  for  this  arrangement 
between  the  government  and  the  Opposition?" 

"That  all  contested  legislation  should  be  dropped 
until  after  the  war  was  over;  and  that  both  govern- 
ment and  Opposition  should  unite  their  forces  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  war,  and  nothing  else,"  replied  Lord 
Newton. 

"Even  if  Sir  Edward  Grey  had  said,  in  answer  to 
Russia  and  France,  that  England  would  join  them  in 
case  of  a  war  with  Germany,  do  you  think  this  would 
have  prevented  the  war?"  I  asked. 

"Yes,  for  the  time  being  at  least,"  said  Lord  New- 
ton. "Certainly  it  would  have  postponed  it ;  I  will  not 
say  that  it  would  have  prevented  it — but  it  would  have 
postponed  it.  It  is  not  likely  that  Germany  would 
have  risked  the  war  if  she  had  known  positively  that 
England  would  have  supported  France  and  Russia. 
The  truth  is  that  Germany  had  ground  to  suppose  that 
Great  Britain  would  not  go  into  the  war;  the  attitude 
of  the  government  gave  them  that  ground." 

"But  you  think,  even  if  postponed,  the  war  would 
not  have  been  prevented  ?" 

"Probably  not,"  answered  Lord  Newton.  "Ger- 
many has  looked  upon  Great  Britain  as  the  great  ob- 
stacle to  her  ambition  for  many  years.  When  the 
present  Emperor  ascended  the  throne  the  getting  of 
a  world  empire  became  Germany's  policy.  That  made 
a  conflict  between  Germany  and  Great  Britain  inev- 
itable." 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  377 

The  Foe  of  "Secret  Diplomacy" 

Mr.  Charles  Trevelyan,  M.  P.,  son  of  the  author  of 
The  American  Revolution,  so  widely  read  and  greatly 
admired  in  the  United  States,  and  brother  of  the  au- 
thor of  the  monumental  work  on  Garibaldi  and  Italy, 
maintains  in  English  public  life  the  brilliancy  of  his 
father  and  brother  in  the  field  of  literature.  Mr. 
Trevelyan  was  one  of  those  who  resigned  from  the 
government  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  and  is 
one  of  the  foremost  leaders  of  the  movement  now 
under  way  in  Great  Britain  for  the  democratization  of 
foreign  policy.  The  strong  group  of  men  who  are 
leading  this  movement  have  already  made  it  distinctly 
felt,  even  in  these  desperate  days  when  it  is  hard  to 
get  men  to  think  of  anything  except  the  immediate 
struggle.  It  seems  certain  that  the  idea  which  these 
men  are  advocating  will  grow  solidly  and  rapidly.  In- 
deed, it  may  become  the  commanding  influence  in  the 
settlement  of  the  war. 

Mr.  Trevelyan  is  a  young  man  of  fine  ability,  and 
is  intensely  in  earnest  in  his  championship  of  this 
cause. 

"The  world  has  outgrown  secret  diplomacy,"  said 
Mr.  Trevelyan.  "It  is  the  people  who  are  affected 
by  these  hidden  agreements  of  their  governments;  why 
then  should  not  the  people  be  consulted  ?  At  least,  why 
should  they  not  be  informed  of  what  is  being  done  in 
their  name?"  said  Mr.  Trevelyan.  "We  hold  agree- 
ments which  bind  nations,  even  to  the  ultimate  sacrifice 
of  war,  should  be  announced  so  that  the  merits  of 


378     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

such  agreements  may  be  openly  discussed,  and  intelli- 
gent public  opinion  formed  upon  them.  Then,  if  public 
opinion  sanctions  them,  well  and  good ;  those  who  op- 
pose such  agreements  at  least  have  had  the  opportunity 
to  state  their  objections  and  would  more  willingly  abide 
the  verdict  of  the  public. 

"Is  it  not  monstrous,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Trevelyan, 
"that  a  people  are  only  told  on  the  eve  of  war  that  they 
must  go  into  it  because  a  secret  agreement  made  long 
before  by  a  concealed  diplomacy  has  bound  the  honor 
of  a  nation  to  that  course  ?  Take  our  present  situation : 
ten  years  ago,  Sir  Edward  Grey  gave  as  his  opinion 
to  France  that  in  case  of  war  between  Germany  and 
France,  England  would  probably  enter  the  conflict  in 
support  of  France.  Yet  the  nation  knew  nothing  what- 
ever of  this  until  Sir  Edward  Grey  admitted  it  when 
we  were  on  the  eve  of  war.  It  is  not  this  specific  ac- 
tion alone  to  which  we  object,  but  the  whole  system  of 
secret  management  of  foreign  affairs,  of  which  it  is 
an  example." 

"Did  this  have  anything  to  do  with  bringing  Eng- 
land into  the  war?" 

"Yes;  it  had  everything  to  do  with  it,"  said  Mr. 
Trevelyan.  "Indeed,  it  may  be  said  to  have  been  the 
principal  cause  of  England's  final  decision." 

"I  have  heard  it  said,"  I  remarked,  "that  the  viola- 
tion of  Belgian  neutrality  was  the  sole  cause  of  Eng- 
land's action." 

"Oh !"  exclaimed  Mr.  Trevelyan,  "that  was  to  many 
people  the  apparent  cause.  But  the  support  of  France 
secretly  pledged  was  the  real  cause.  Everybody  has 
known  for  years  that  in  case  of  war  between  France 


BRITISH   THOUGHT  379 

and  Germany,  the  latter  country  would  attack  France 
through  Belgium.  Certainly  the  government  knew  it. 
Nobody  ought  to  have  been  surprised  when  that  hap- 
pened, outrageous  as  it  was  on  Germany's  part.  But 
the  pledge  to  France,  which  was  kept  from  the  British 
public,  bound  the  honor  of  the  nation  to  go  into  this 
war  regardless  of  the  violation  of  Belgian  neutrality." 

"Was  there  no  economic  cause  for  the  war?"  I 
asked.  "Did  not  the  commercial  rivalry  between  Eng- 
land and  Germany  have  anything  to  do  with  causing 
England  to  enter  the  war?" 

"Not  so  far  as  the  people  are  concerned,"  answered 
Mr.  Trevelyan.  "They  would  have  voted  over- 
whelmingly against  war  with  Germany  or  anybody  else, 
on  the  grounds  of  trade  rivalry.  It  is  not  the  British 
idea  that  we  can  get  more  trade  by  crushing  somebody's 
else  trade.  The  British  idea  is  exactly  the  reverse. 
We  say  that  trade  creates  trade,  and  that  the  more 
commerce  other  nations  engage  in,  the  more  there  will 
be  for  us ;  and  that  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  go  out  and 
get  it.  You  may  dismiss  from  your  mind  the  idea 
that  trade  rivalry  caused  England  to  enter  this  war, 
so  far  as  the  will  of  the  people  is  concerned." 

"Did  the  maintenance  of  the  principle  of  the  equi- 
librium of  Europe  influence  Great  Britain's  action 
in  the  present  international  conflict?  It  has  been 
widely  stated  in  many  countries  that  the  traditional 
policy  of  Great  Britain  to  oppose  the  predominance  of 
any  nation  on  the  continent  is  just  as  vital  to  British 
interests  to-day  as  it  ever  has  been,  and  that  this  tra- 
ditional policy  was  a  decisive  factor  in  determining 
Great  Britain's  conduct  last  August,"  I  remarked. 


380     WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

"The  so-called  principle  of  the  equilibrium  of  Europe 
is  out  of  date,"  answered  Mr.  Trevelyan.  "It  is  an 
inheritance  from  the  past  that  has  no  intelligent  place 
in  present  day  international  arrangements.  It  is  a  part 
of  that  irrational  and  unmodern  diplomatic  system 
which  the  nations  have  outlived.  Do  you  suppose  that 
the  people  themselves  would  decide  to  go  to  war  to 
keep  any  nation  from  becoming  stronger  than  some 
other  nation  on  the  continent?" 

"What  will  be  the  end  of  this  war?" 

"The  end  of  the  war  in  which  the  whole  human  race 
is  concerned  will  be  the  establishment  of  certain  great 
principles,"  said  Mr.  Trevelyan.  "These  may  be 
summed  up  in  this  one  generalization :  the  extension 
to  foreign  affairs  of  the  democratic  idea,  which  con- 
trols our  internal  affairs.  For  example,  as  I  have 
stated,  we  hold  that  no  treaty  arrangement  or  under- 
taking shall  be  entered  upon  in  the  name  of  Great 
Britain  without  the  sanction  of  Parliament;  and  we 
would  create  adequate  machinery  for  popular  control 
of  foreign  politics.  If  any  Foreign  Secretary  pro- 
poses or  agrees  to  an  arrangement  with  a  representa- 
tive of  another  nation,  let  him  announce  to  Parliament 
at  once  that  he  has  done  such  a  thing  or  is  about 
to  do  it. 

"Another  of  our  purposes  is  that  alliances  shall  not 
be  created  to  sustain  the  so-called  balance  of  power, 
but  instead  that  all  our  foreign  engagements  shall  be 
directed  to  securing  concerted  action  between  the 
Powers,  and  the  setting  up  of  an  international  council 
whose  deliberations  and  decisions  shall  be  published, 
with  such  machinery  for  securing  international  agree- 


BRITISH   THOUGHT  381 

ment  as  shall  be  the  guaranty  for  an  abiding  peace. 
Instead  of  grouping  certain  Powers  together  by  se- 
cret arrangements  against  certain  other  Powers,  we 
would  have  all  the  Powers  brought  together  in  an  in- 
ternational council.  Thus  both  the  cause  and  the  oc- 
casion for  most  wars  would  be  removed. 

"Still  another  object  of  our  organization,  [The 
Union  of  Democratic  Control]  which  will  affect  the 
terms  of  peace  of  the  present  war,  and  of  future 
wars,  if  indeed  it  does  not  prevent  future  wars,  is 
this:  that  no  province  shall  be  transferred  from  one 
government  to  another  without  the  consent  by  plebi- 
scite or  otherwise  of  the  population  of  such  province. 
That,  you  see,  is  the  central  idea  of  your  own  declara- 
tion of  independence — that  government  can  justly 
exist  only  with  the  consent  of  the  governed.  Also,  we 
say  that  Great  Britain  shall  propose,  as  a  part  of  the 
peace  settlement,  a  plan  for  the  drastic  reduction  by 
consent  of  the  armament  of  all  the  belligerent  Powers, 
and  shall  attempt  to  secure  the  general  nationalization 
of  the  manufacture  of  armament  and  the  control  of 
the  export  of  armament  by  one  country  to  another. 

"In  short,  our  programme  is  the  application  of  the 
democratic  principle  to  foreign  affairs ;  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  principle  of  internationalism  in  place 
of  the  armament-nursing  and  war-producing  policy  of 
the  so-called  balance  of  power  or  the  equilibrium  of 
Europe." 


XV 

BRITISH   THOUGHT  BACK  OF  THE  WAR — II 

Great  Britain's  Leading  Dramatist 

AMERICANS  recognize  in  Bernard  Shaw  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  intellects  of  the  English- 
speaking  world.  His  perfect  fearlessness  in  stating 
his  views  makes  one  realize  that  after  all  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  intellectual  liberty.  Timidity  in  face  of 
possible  popular  disapproval  has  no  place  in  Bernard 
Shaw's  mental  or  moral  make-up.  Also  there  is  some- 
thing of  the  prophet  in  Mr.  Shaw. 

The  following  conversation  with  this  distinguished 
man  states  with  his  characteristic  boldness  opinions 
which  others  hold  in  common  with  him.  What  is 
here  set  down,  was  written  out  and  laid  before  Mr. 
Shaw,  who  revised  it  with  much  care. 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Shaw,  "I  hear  that  you  have  been 
about  the  world  seeing  all  the  great  ones  of  this  earth." 

"Not  all  the  great  ones,"  I  remarked.  "What  I  have 
been  trying  to  do  is  to  get  and  faithfully  to  reflect  the 
various  views  of  the  countries  now  at  war.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  a  good  beginning  of  this  conversation  if  I 
told  you  of  three  hasty  talks  I  have  had  with  cab 
drivers,  to-day." 

382 


BRITISH   THOUGHT  383 

"That  would  be  interesting,"  said  Mr.  Shaw ;  "what 
did  they  say?" 

"I  asked  the  first  one,"  said  I,  "when  England  was 
going  to  get  through  with  this  war.  'God  knows,  sir !' 
he  answered;  'but  I  hope  soon.  It's  hard  on  us  cab- 
men.' 'What  is  it  about?'  I  asked  the  cabman.  Tm 
sure  I  don't  know,'  he  answered. 

"When  the  second  cabman  was  asked  how  long  the 
war  would  last,  he  was  quite  definite :  'It'll  be  over  by 
the  end  of  April,  sir.'  'Why  the  end  of  April?'  'Well, 
sir,  when  Lord  Kitchener's  army  gets  after  them, 
that'll  finish  'em.  I  have  two  sons  in  his  army.  They 
go  to  the  front  next  week.' 

"The  third  cabman  was  the  one  who  brought  me  to 
your  door.  He  said  he  had  no  idea  how  long  the  war 
would  last;  but  hoped  it  would  not  be  many  years. 
When  asked :  'What  is  the  war  about  ?'  he  exclaimed : 
'You've  got  me,  sir.  There's  a  lot  of  us  asking  that 
question.' ' 

"There  are  other  people  besides  the  cab  drivers  who 
are  asking  the  same  question,"  remarked  Mr.  Shaw. 

"So,  Mr.  Shaw,  while  it  is  a  far  cry  from  these  cab 
drivers  to  Bernard  Shaw,  yet  we  Americans  would 
like  to  know  what  you  say  'the  row  is  about,'  as  one 
cab  driver  put  it.  What  do  you  think  caused  it?"  I 
inquired. 

"A  general  fear  of  one  another,"  answered  Mr. 
Shaw.  "Everybody  was  afraid  that  if  he  did  not  de- 
stroy his  neighbor,  his  neighbor  would  destroy  him." 

"The  reason  which,  we  Americans  have  been  in- 
formed, caused  Great  Britain  to  declare  war  is  the  vio- 
lation of  Belgian  neutrality,"  I  remarked. 


384     WHAT   IS   BACK  ~  OF   THE :  WAR 

"That  was  the  formal  plea  on  which  we  declared 
war,"  answered  Mr.  Shaw.  "But  really  the  broken 
Treaty  of  1839  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Plenty  of 
treaties  have  been  broken  since  1839,  by  ourselves  and 
others,  without  war.  The  real  reason  was  Grey  had 
secretly  pledged  us  to  support  France  if  the  Austro- 
German  alliance  ever  came  to  blows  with  the  Franco- 
Russian  alliance. 

"All  the  European  diplomatists  had  made  up  their 
minds  that  an  European  war  between  these  two  com- 
binations was  inevitable,"  continued  Mr.  Shaw.  "Our 
diplomatists  decided  that  we  must  be  in  that  war.  They 
chose  our  side — the  French  side — on  the  ground  that 
if  the  Germans  vanquished  France  and  Russia,  they 
could  vanquish  us  afterward. 

"So  they  concerted  all  the  necessary  military  and 
naval  plans  and  arrangements  with  the  French 
diplomatists.  And  when  the  Servian  affair  brought 
about  the  war,  we  were  of  course  bound  by  these  ar- 
rangements." 

"But,"  I  remarked,  "I  have  heard  that  the  Liberal 
party  went  into  power  as  a  peace  party.  I  have  been 
told  that  peace  was  its  central  principle." 

"Not  exactly,"  said  Mr.  Shaw.  "When  the  party 
came  into  power  in  1906  it  was  divided,  and  public 
opinion  was  divided  between  modern  Imperialism  and 
the  old  non-intervention  policy  of  peace,  retrenchment 
and  reform.  The  difference  was  compromised  by  in- 
cluding three  Liberal  Imperialists,  Asquith,  Grey  and 
Haldane,  in  the  cabinet.  They  were  reinforced  by 
Churchill,  a  blazing  militarist  Junker. 

"But  the  difficulty  was  that,  though  these  ministers 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  385 

were  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  our  taking  sides  in 
the  European  quarrel,  and  backing  France  by  arms, 
they  would  have  broken  up  their  party  if  they  had  said 
so  openly  and  revealed  their  entry  into  the  Franco- 
Russian  entente.  They  had  even  to  deny  that  they 
were  committed  to  war  by  any  secret  arrangement." 

"Do  you  mean  that  they  publicly  told  a  lie?"  I  ex- 
claimed. 

"Not  at  all — technically,"  Mr.  Shaw  responded.  "Mr. 
Asquith  had  taken  care  of  that.  He  insisted  on  Sir 
Edward  Grey  asking  the  French  to  note  particularly 
that  the  arrangements  did  not  bind  us  to  anything.  The 
French,  who  understand  the  electioneering  exigencies 
of  democracy  as  well  as  any  politicians  on  earth, 
gravely  noted  the  statement.  Thus  Mr.  Asquith  was 
perfectly  in  order  in  stating  repeatedly  that  we  were 
bound  by  no  secret  engagements.  And  Sir  Edward 
Grey  confirmed  him. 

"That,"  said  Mr.  Shaw,  "is  how  the  Liberal  party 
and  the  nation  were  led  up  to  the  guns  blindfolded." 

"According  to  that,"  I  remarked,  "Germany's  viola- 
tion of  Belgian  neutrality  had  nothing  to  do  with  Eng- 
land's entering  the  war." 

"Nothing  whatever,"  answered  Mr.  Shaw,  "except 
to  furnish  Mr.  Asquith  with  a  perfectly  presentable 
and  correct  pretext  for  entering  on  a  war  to  which  he 
was  already  secretly  pledged,  Belgium  or  no  Belgium." 

"Of  course,"  continued  Mr.  Shaw,  "the  secret  ar- 
rangements with  France  had  to  come  out;  but  as  the 
revelation  was  accompanied  by  the  announcement  that 
we  were  virtually  at  war  with  Germany,  the  consterna- 
tion and  excitement  and  war  fever  prevented  the  Lib- 


386     WHAT   IS   BACK  OF  THE  WAR 

erals  from  realizing  at  once  how  they  had  been  hum- 
bugged— though,  by  the  way,  three  members  of  the 
cabinet  resigned — and  they  did  not  know  until  some 
months  later  that  they  had  been  sold  to  the  Opposition, 
as  well." 

"Sold!  How  was  that?"  I  observed  in  surprise. 

"There  was  not  only  a  secret  treaty  with  France,  but 
one  with  the  Opposition  as  well,"  answered  Mr.  Shaw. 
"Mr.  Asquith  could  not  be  sure  that  his  duped  fol- 
lowers would  not  rebel;  and  Sir  Edward  Grey  was 
threatened  with  the  opposition  of  the  City  to  the  war. 
When  their  perplexity  was  at  its  height,  a  handful  of 
the  most  energetic  of  the  younger  members  of  the  Op- 
position jumped  into  automobiles  and  scurried  out 
through  the  country  to  collect  the  Unionist  leaders  to 
take  advantage  of  the  threatened  crisis. 

"When  they  arrived  in  London,  they  proposed  a 
deal.  The  Unionist  leaders  agreed  to  supply  and  more 
than  supply  any  Liberal  defection  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  to  see  Grey  and  Asquith  through  with 
their  war  programme.  And  the  quid  pro  quo  was  that 
Mr.  Asquith  should  meanwhile  drop  the  Liberal  party's 
programme  of  social  and  industrial  reform  legislation. 
This  is  what  was  politely  announced  as  a  patriotic 
sinking  of  controversy  and  the  presentation  of  an 
united  front  to  the  Hun.  For  short,  we  now  call  it 
The  Truce." 

"But  is  there  any  record  of  this?"  I  exclaimed. 

"Certainly,"  replied  Mr.  Shaw.  "A  few  months 
later  Bonar  Law  let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag  by  pub- 
lishing the  letter  in  which  he  and  Lord  Lansdowne 
gave  that  pledge  to  Asquith.  The  pledge,  by  the  way, 


BRITISH   THOUGHT  387 

was  to  support  war  on  behalf  of  France — not  a  word 
about  Belgium.  At  the  same  time,  Churchill  was 
boasting  loudly  of  the  perfect  preparation  of  the  navy, 
and  of  the  accumulation  of  ammunition  which  had 
been  going  on  for  years  before  the  war. 

"Asquith  and  Lloyd-George  still  cling  to  the  pre- 
tense that  we  should  not  have  gone  to  war  if  Belgian 
neutrality  had  not  been  violated,"  went  on  Mr.  Shaw, 
"but  Churchill's  impetuous  Jingoism  is  far  better  po- 
litical tactics;  for  a  refusal  to  go  to  war  after  our 
understanding  with  France  would  have  been  an  in- 
famous political  treachery;  and  the  Unionists  are  at 
last  taking  advantage  of  that  opening  to  hoist  the 
government  with  its  own  petard." 

"In  America,"  I  remarked,  "it  has  been  said  that 
England  was  surprised,  pained  and  outraged  when 
Germany  attacked  France  through  Belgium." 

"Surprised!"  said  Mr.  Shaw.  "Why,  everybody 
knew  for  ten  years  that  Germany  would  march 
through  Belgium  in  case  of  war  with  France !  There 
were  Germany's  strategic  railways  built  right  up  to 
Belgium's  frontiers!  What  other  object  could  they 
have?  There  was  no  secret  at  all  about  it!  The 
British  government  long  since  had  taken  action  ac- 
cordingly. Not  only  were  our  fleets  disposed  and 
stationed  according  to  plans  agreed  upon  in  pur- 
suance with  Grey's  pledge  to  France,  but  our  govern- 
ment fixed  things  up  with  Belgium  so  that  Great 
Britain  and  France  could  meet  the  German  attack  in 
Belgium,  when  the  war  came." 

"But  was  not  this  to  be  done  only  in  case  Germany 
first  invaded  Belgium?"  I  inquired. 


388 

"There  would  have  been  no  occasion  to  do  it  in  any 
other  case.  Naturally,  if  Germany  had  attacked 
through  Alsace,  the  British  army  would  not  have  gone 
to  Liege.  And  please  note  that  when  England  and 
France  were  about  to  pledge  themselves  not  to  enter 
Belgium,  they  did  so  only  on  condition  that  Germany 
did  not  attack  through  Belgium. 

"In  other  words,  they  refused  to  respect  the  neutral- 
ity of  Belgium  unless  Germany  respected  it  also.  There 
was  nothing  in  these  pledges.  There  never  is,  because 
international  law — as  far  as  there  is  such  a  thing — 
admits  that  a  violation  of  neutrality  by  one  Power 
dispenses  all  the  rest  from  respecting  it.  That  is  why 
I  say  that  neutrality  is  all  nonsense. 

"When  the  Germans  took  Brussels,"  went  on  Mr. 
Shaw,  "they  discovered  the  documents  recording  the 
negotiations;  and  there  is  now  no  secret  about  them. 
You  can  be  as  indignant  as  you  like  in  theory  about 
the  devastation  of  Belgium,  the  innocent  victim  of  all 
the  policies  and  ambitions  of  her  big  neighbors;  but 
you  need  not  waste  any  virtuous  indignation  on  the 
technical  breach  of  neutrality." 

"Why  this  combination  against  Germany?"  I  asked. 

"The  old  story — the  balance  of  power  and  our  com- 
mand of  the  sea — you  know  that  we  regard  the  sea  as 
our  private  property,"  replied  Mr.  Shaw.  "Some  years 
ago  Count  Kessler  organized  an  expression  of  good 
feeling  between  England  and  Germany.  First  came  a 
sort  of  manifesto  signed  by  all  the  illustrious  names  in 
Germany,  which  should  be  reprinted  on  every  copy  of 
Lissauer's  Hymn  of  Hate.  It  breathed  nothing  but 
esteem  and  admiration  for  the  English  character  and 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  389 

the  contributions  of  the  English  to  culture  and  science. 
According  to  it,  Germany  saw  us  as  a  nation  of 
Shakespeares,  Newtons  and  Wellingtons. 

"We  responded  with  an  equally  ecstatic  document. 
I  remember  it  very  well.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  drafted 
it;  and  it  may  interest  you  to  know  why  my  name  did 
not  appear  among  the  signatories.  The  reason  was 
that  I  put  into  it  a  test  sentence  to  discover  what  its 
real  political  value  was.  That  sentence  was  to  the  ef- 
fect that  far  from  regarding  the  growth  of  the  German 
fleet  with  suspicion  and  jealousy,  we  saw  in  it  only  an 
additional  bulwark  of  our  common  civilization. 

"Well,  not  a  single  signature  of  any  political  weight 
could  we  get  except  on  condition  that  this  sentence  was 
expunged.  Expunged  it  was  accordingly.  They  were 
rather  surprised  when  I  refused  to  give  my  name  to  the 
document  I  had  myself  drafted  for  them;  but  I  had 
tested  it  for  humbug,  and  it  had  not  passed  the  test. 

"Since  that  time,"  continued  Mr.  Shaw,  "I  have 
fully  realized  that  our  Imperialists  were  waiting  for 
The  Day  as  much  as  the  Prussian  Junkers;  and  I  did 
what  I  could  to  urge  a  change  of  foreign  policy  so  as 
to  avert  war;  but  the  Junkers  of  both  countries  wanted 
war,  and  had  complete  control  of  diplomacy;  so  they 
got  what  they  wanted." 

"Is  it  your  opinion  that  the  British  people  wanted 
war  with  Germany?"  I  asked. 

"The  people!  Bless  you,  the  people  have  nothing 
to  do  with  wars,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Shaw.  "Of  course 
they  get  patriotically  indignant  when  the  government 
tells  them  that  this,  that  or  the  other  Power  has  basely, 
barbarously  and  infamously  attacked  their  native  land. 


390     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE  WAR 

What  else  can  they  do?  But  if  Grey  had  announced 
a  war  with  France  or  with  Timbuctoo,  and  an  alliance 
with  Germany,  the  people  would  have  reviled  the 
French  and  cheered  the  Kaiser,  and  applauded  when 
our  bands  played  Deutschland,  Deutschland  iiber  alles 
along  with  God  Save  the  King.  If  you  go  deeper 
than  that  the  war  is  not  popular,  though  we  know  we 
have  to  go  through  with  it." 

"But,  Mr.  Shaw,  is  not  Great  Britain's  action  in 
supporting  France  consistent  with  her  traditional 
policy  first  formulated  by  the  younger  Pitt,  of  main- 
taining the  principle  of  the  equilibrium  of  Europe, 
which  means,  as  I  understand  it,  that  England  can  not 
permit  any  one  nation  on  the  continent  to  become  the 
predominant  Power,  and  that  she  must  oppose  any  na- 
tion which  is  making  progress  toward  such  su- 
premacy?" I  inquired. 

"Certainly  it  is,"  answered  Mr.  Shaw. 

"And,"  I  went  on,  "is  not  the  maintenance  of  this 
principle  the  best  way  to  prevent  European  wars.  It 
has  been  so  stated." 

"Nonsense!"  answered  Mr.  Shaw.  "It  is  just  the 
other  way  around !  That  so-called  principle,  as  it  has 
been  and  now  is  being  applied,  is  a  breeder  of  wars. 
The  sooner  Europe  does  away  with  that  rubbish,  the 
better!" 

"What  would  you  suggest  in  place  of  it?"  I  asked. 

"A  sensible  and  open  arrangement  among  the  west- 
ern European  nations  that  if  any  one  of  them  goes  to 
war,  the  others  will  oppose  her,"  responded  Mr.  Shaw. 
"Just  apply  that  to  the  present  case.  Suppose  Great 
Britain  had  said  to  France :  'If  you  make  war  on  Ger- 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  391 

many,  I  shall  fight  you  and  support  Germany';  and 
at  the  same  time,  said  to  Germany:  'If  you  make  war 
on  France,  I  shall  fight  you  and  support  France.' 
Neither  one  would  have  made  war  on  the  other.  And 
suppose  this  sensible  and  honorable  policy  had  been 
stated  openly  and  made  known  to  the  whole  world. 
Then  the  other  western  European  nations  would  have 
joined  in,  and  perhaps  the  United  States,  also." 

"And  Russia?"  I  inquired. 

"Russia  must  become  the  nucleus  of  an  eastern  com- 
bination similar  to  the  western  one,"  declared  Mr. 
Shaw.  "You  see,  it  is  quite  useless  as  yet  to  talk  of  a 
Parliament  of  Man,  a  federation  of  the  world.  The 
world  is  too  big  an  unit  to  be  manageable.  Besides,  in 
this  sort  of  combination  psychological  homogeneity  is 
essential  to  stability.  The  oriental  peoples  may  be  ever 
so  much  better  than  we  are  or  they  may  be  ever  so 
much  worse — I  shall  not  beg  either  question;  but  the 
fact  remains  that  they  are  working  with  different  cus- 
toms and  traditions,  different  religions,  and  with  litera- 
tures and  languages  utterly  strange  to  us. 

"It  is  not  practicable  to  amalgamate  them  with  us  in 
the  same  supernational  organization,"  continued  Mr. 
Shaw.  "You  can  get  sufficient  psychological  homo- 
geneity for  practical  purposes  from,  say,  San  Fran- 
cisco to  Warsaw;  but  if  you  insist  on  taking  in 
the  other  hemisphere,  you  will  wreck  the  whole 
project — in  fact,  you  will  not  be  able  to  make  even 
a  beginning.  Therefore,  with  no  hostility  to  Russia, 
and  with  a  very  keen  sense  of  the  complications  in 
which  England  will  be  involved  by  the  fact  that  she  is 
in  two  eastern  places,  Egypt  and  India,  where  she  has 


392     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

no  business  to  be,  I  leave  Russia  out  of  the  western 
supernational  organization,  and  invite  her  to  make  a 
separate  supernational  unit  of  the  Slav  states  and  the 
Asiatic  Powers." 

"Why  did  your  plan  make  no  headway  here?" 

"Because,"  explained  Mr.  Shaw,  "it  runs  flatly  con- 
trary to  all  the  traditions  and  conceptions  of  Junker 
diplomacy — Junkerthum,  as  you  know,  is  just  as  much 
an  English  institution  as  a  Prussian  one,  and  is  even 
more  completely  in  command  of  foreign  politics  here 
than  in  Berlin.  Our  diplomacy  is  centered  on  what 
the  Germans  call  Einkreisungspolitik — hemming-in 
game. 

"Thus,  Germany  being  strong  is  dangerous  to  us; 
therefore  hem  her  in  between  Russia  and  France  and 
the  British  navy.  America,  being  strong,  is  danger- 
ous to  us;  therefore,  hem  her  in  between  Japan  and 
England  and  France.  Crafty,  masterly,  isn't  it?  That 
is  the  old,  insular,  British  lion  for  you,  at  his  cunning- 
est  and  narrowest. 

"But  this  notion  that  if  you  are  not  in  a  position  to 
eat  everybody,  they  will  eat  you,  though  it  was  all  very 
well  in  the  primitive  British  jungle,  means  nowadays 
that  any  nation  that  adopts  it  as  a  policy  must  even- 
tually force  all  the  other  nations  to  destroy  it,"  went  on 
Mr.  Shaw.  "Anyhow,  my  policy  reduced  to  practical 
diplomacy,  upsets  it  at  every  point.  My  policy  in- 
volves guaranteeing  Germany  against  Russia.  It  in- 
volves guaranteeing  America  against  Japan.  It  as- 
sumes— I  am  quite  as  arrogant  as  the  lion,  you  may 
observe — that  we  hold  the  balance  of  power,  and  that 
we  can  use  it  to  bind  the  western  powers  to  us  and  to 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  393 

one  another,  using  the  fear  of  Russia  which  prevails 
in  Europe  and  the  fear  of  Japan  which  prevails  in 
America  to  gather  in  the  people  who  will  do  nothing 
until  they  are  frightened. 

"If  we  do  not  do  this,  what  will  happen?"  asked 
Mr.  Shaw,  and  he  answered :  "The  consolidation  I 
propose  will  be  effected,  with  Britain  left  out.  Have 
you  noticed  that  Germany,  even  in  the  throes  of  war 
with  France,  is  treating  her  with  marked  civility,  and 
emphasizing  at  every  opportunity  that  Britain  is  the 
enemy,  and  is  organizing  a  raid  of  barbarians  from 
Russia  and  India  for  the  destruction  and  confusion 
of  western  civilization,  careless  of  everything  but  her 
trade?  That  is  clearly  Germany's  first  step  toward 
the  organizing  of  the  west  against  Britain  on  the  one 
hand  and  Russia  on  the  other. 

"And  as  long  as  America  feels  herself  caught  be- 
tween the  British  fleet  in  the  Atlantic  and  the  Japanese 
fleet  in  the  Pacific,  the  Anglo-Japanese  alliance  will 
make  her  uneasy,  and  will  incline  her  to  join  any  west- 
ern European  consolidation  that  promises  to  involve 
England  in  a  war  on  both  fronts  in  the  event  of  her 
falling  out  with  the  United  States.  All  this  mischief 
can  be  averted  by  our  exchanging  our  alliance  with 
Japan  for  an  alliance  with  America,  and  our  alliance 
with  Russia  for  an  alliance  with  Germany. 

"The  same  bargain  would  be  equally  good  for 
France.  Russia  and  Japan  could  then  organize  the 
east  as  best  they  could.  They  would  be  strong  enough, 
if  they  refrained  from  a  partition  of  China,  to  have  no 
fear  of  us ;  and  we,  solid  from  the  Rockies  to  the  Car- 
pathians, would  be  strong  enough  to  have  no  fear  of 


394     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

them.  That  is  by  far  the  best  practicable  chance  of 
getting  rid  of  war,  which  is  always  due  to  fear  now- 
adays. People  do  not  go  to  war  now  like  Frederick 
the  Great,  to  get  themselves  talked  about.  The  risks 
are  too  big.  Get  rid  of  panic,  and  you  break  the  stick 
with  which  our  militarists  drive  us  to  battle." 

"It  is  a  big  idea,  but  is  it  practical?" 

"It  is  better,  at  all  events,"  said  Mr.  Shaw,  "than 
making  elaborate  secret  conspiracies  against  our  neigh- 
bors because  we  are  afraid  they  will  make  war  on  us, 
and  then  drifting  helplessly  into  war  after  all,  with  the 
conspirators  piteously  protesting  that  they  have  striven 
for  peace  all  their  lives,  like  the  Kaiser,  and  Bethmann- 
Hollweg,  and  Sir  Edward  Grey.  Anyhow,  it  is  the 
only  way  out  I  can  see ;  and  I  am  still  waiting  for  any 
one  to  point  out  a  better  one." 

The  Great  Canadian  Novelist 

Sir  Gilbert  Parker,  whose  books  are  so  well  known 
to  American  readers,  faithfully  reflects  prevailing  Brit- 
ish opinion,  and  is  a  powerful  member  of  the  conserva- 
tive party,  the  members  of  which  are  working  pa- 
triotically with  the  Liberals  who  are  in  power.  The 
views  of  this  brilliant  author  and  politician  are  typical 
of  the  great  body  of  British  thought,  especially  among 
the  higher  classes. 

Sir  Gilbert  Parker  compels  one's  admiration,  con- 
fidence and  regard.  He  is  sincerity  itself,  and  his  de- 
votion to  Great  Britain  is  almost  a  religion  with  him. 
He  is  an  admirable  example  of  the  men  of  letters  in 
statesmanship  which  is  so  notable  a  feature  of  British 
public  life. 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  395 

"I  have  an  idea  that  men  are  born  with  conservative 
or  radical  tendencies,"  said  Sir  Gilbert.  "It  is  a  nat- 
ural state  of  mind,  or  rather  a  condition  of  tempera- 
ment. Now  I  speak  to  you  as  a  conservative.  Con- 
servatives believe  in  a  vigorous,  constructive  foreign 
policy,  of  which  the  maintenance  of  a  great  navy  is 
a  vital  part.  Perhaps,  in  our  intense  concern  for  the 
building  up  and  solidifying  of  the  empire,  we  have 
sometimes  erred  in  not  giving  the  individual  the  place 
he  deserves,  and  have  not  sufficiently  pressed  social 
reforms,  though  the  record  of  the  Conservative  Party 
in  that  direction  is  still  a  very  good  one. 

"On  the  whole,  and  speaking  roughly,  the  theory  of 
the  conservative  is,  the  nation  and  its  welfare  first  and 
the  individual  afterward;  the  opposing  theory  is  the 
individual  altogether  first  and  the  nation  somewhat 
afterward.  So,  as  a  matter  not  only  of  policy,  but  of 
fundamental  principle,  the  Liberal  Party  which  now 
forms  the  government,  has  been  for  peace  almost  at 
any  price.  Its  opposition  to  war  amounted  almost  to 
a  religious  feeling.  Day  in  and  day  out,  the  Liberals 
preached  peace,  disarmament  and  the  whole  anti-war 
programme.  We  conservatives  thought  they  were 
wrong;  we  thought  their  position  endangered  our  na- 
tional safety ;  we  saw  a  great  power  right  at  our  doors 
engaged  upon  an  ambitious  naval  programme.  It  was 
plain  to  us  that  Germany  meant  to  outclass  us  in  naval 
power  if  she  could.  And  what  would  that  great  navy 
be  for,  if  not  to  attack  us? 

"But  the  Liberal  Party  was  consistent.  When  it 
came  into  power,  it  at  once  began  to  carry  into  practice 
what  it  had  been  preaching.  It  began  a  programme  of 


396     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

naval  reduction;  it  declared  that  England,  as  the  first 
naval  Power,  must  set  an  example  which  would  be  fol- 
lowed by  other  countries,  and  first  of  all  by  Germany. 
But  what  did  Germany  do?  She  instantly  replied  by 
increasing  her  naval  programme.  Still,  the  Liberal 
Party,  then  and  now  in  charge  of  the  Government,  did 
not  cease  its  efforts ;  it  proposed  to  Germany  a  mutual 
reduction  of  naval  expenditure  and  armament.  What 
was  Germany's  answer?  She  would  not  agree  to  re- 
duction at  all,  but  said  that  she  would  retard  her  pro- 
gramme of  naval  construction  on  certain  terms.  What 
were  those  terms?  Why,  that  in  case  of  war  between 
Germany  and  France,  Great  Britain  should  abandon 
France  to  her  fate,  while  Germany  should  take  the 
French  colonies.  She  also  proposed  that  England 
should — by  force  if  necessary — compel  France  to  re- 
main neutral,  in  case  of  war  between  Russia  and  Ger- 
many only.  Even  the  Liberals  could  not  consent  to 
peace  on  those  shameless  terms. 

"These  are  examples  of  the  earnest  and  extreme  ef- 
forts with  which  the  Liberal  Party  honestly  tried  to 
carry  out  its  policy  of  peace.  Yet  it  is  this  very  party 
of  peace  which,  against  its  central  doctrine,  is  forced 
by  events  to  take  up  arms  in  this  terrific  conflict !  No 
preparations  were  made  for  war;  there  was  no  stock  of 
war  munitions,  the  army  was  under  two  hundred  thou- 
sand men,  while  Germany  had  millions  of  men  trained 
and  an  enormous  reserve  of  munitions.  England  is 
manufacturing  now  twenty  times  the  amount  of  war 
munitions  she  was  manufacturing  last  September,  and 
yet  she  has  not  enough.  No  nation  that  intended  war 
would  have  placed  itself  in  this  position.  These  big 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  397 

and  simple  facts,  well  known  to  the  whole  world,  prove 
that  Great  Britain  did  not  want  this  war;  and  that  so 
far  from  there  being  any  aggressive  plan  or  attitude 
on  her  part,  the  exact  reverse  was  the  case." 

"What  is  the  conservative  view,  then,  as  to  why 
England  did  go  into  the  war?"  I  asked. 

"The  view  of  the  whole  country  is  that  we  could 
not  in  honor  abandon  France,"  answered  Sir  Gil- 
bert. "In  any  case  we  could  not  afford  to  see  her 
crushed.  We  would  not  permit  it;  and  Russia 
declared  that  she  would  not  permit  it  in  1875. 
France  has  been  guilty  of  no  offense  against  Ger- 
many since  1870.  She  has  never  been  prepared  to 
attack  Germany,  and  the  idea  of  her  being  a  conqueror 
is  ludicrous>  Yet  she  had  to  arm  herself  against 
the  possibility  of  Germany  attacking  her.  If  she  stood 
alone  Germany  could  crush  her.  It  was  because  of 
this  fact  that  Russia  joined  with  France  after  the  Ger- 
man threat  and  menace  of  1875.  From  every  stand- 
point of  material  interests  we  could  not  permit  France 
to  be  crushed,  and  Germany  .with  aggressive  designs 
to  hold  the  territory  on  the  other  side  of  the  English 
Channel.  There  was  no  peril  from  France.  She  has 
been  our  friend  and  neighbor,  although  we  have  had 
differences  with  her  in  the  now  remote  past.  She  has 
no  designs  upon  England.  She  wanted  to  be  left  alone. 
But  Germany  had  designs  on  both  France  and 
England.  She  had  designs  on  France  to  secure 
European  territory  and  oversea  dominion.  She 
had  designs  on  France  to  secure  a  base  from 
which  to  attack  Great  Britain.  That  was  where 
our  material  interests  came  in.  But  apart  from  those 


398     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

material  interests,  England  and  the  world  owe  France 
too  much  to  permit  the  heel  of  a  conqueror  to  be  set 
upon  her  neck  for  no  act  of  aggression  or  of  hostility 
on  the  part  of  France,  but  simply  because  she  was 
weak.  We  were  in  honor  bound  to  see  to  it  that 
France  did  not  become  a  victim  of  German  Milita- 
rism." 

"Do  you  say  then  that  Germany  made  war  on 
France  simply  to  secure  territory  and  to  attack  Eng- 
land?" I  inquired. 

"The  other  consideration  of  course  must  be  in- 
cluded; that  war  with  Russia  inevitably  meant  war 
with  France,  whatever  Germany's  designs  on  France 
or  England  were,"  replied  Sir  Gilbert.  "France  was 
bound  to  support  Russia,  just  as  Austria  and  Italy 
were  bound  to  support  Germany,  owing  to  alliances; 
with  this  difference,  however,  that  Italy  was  only 
bound  to  support  Germany  in  a  case  of  aggression 
against  her.  That  was  clearly  defined.  I  think  that 
France  made  no  such  reservation  in  her  alliance  with 
Russia.  Italy  had  good  reason  to  suspect  Germany  of 
aggressive  designs,  but  whatever  Russia's  faults  have 
been,  so  far  she  has  not  shown  herself  to  be  an  ag- 
gressive power." 

"Why  should  Germany  wish  to  engage  in  war  with 
any  one?  She  was  very  prosperous,  was  she  not?"  I 
remarked. 

"Not  so  fully  as  the  world  believed,"  said  Sir  Gilbert. 
"Her  progress  in  agriculture  and  industry  had  been 
enormous.  Her  export  trade  has  grown  prodigiously. 
But,  unlike  Great  Britain,  Germany's  industries  were 


BRITISH    THOUGHT          .        399 

absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the  banks.  All  Germany's  in- 
dustries were  practically  founded,  not  upon  accumu- 
lated capital  or  savings,  but  upon  capital  provided  by 
banking  institutions.  The  burden  of  taxation,  owing 
to  immense  sums  of  money  spent  for  military  and  naval 
purposes,  was  growing  onerous  and  galling.  The 
Junker  class  were  rebellious  against  the  heavy  imposi- 
tions placed  upon  them,  and  they  represented  the  mili- 
taristic element  in  the  nation.  Germany  had  intended 
to  make  war  for  purposes  of  territorial  gain  in  Eu- 
rope, and  for  oversea  dominions.  She  had  made  prep- 
arations over  a  long  number  of  years  for  that  purpose. 
Her  navy  had  been  built  at  immense  cost,  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  her  needs  as  a  continental  power,  and  could 
only  be  regarded  as  an  implement  of  war  for  world 
power.  Germany  could  not  have  world  power  without 
world  dominion.  World  dominion  could  only  be  got 
by  taking  the  goods  of  other  people. 

"The  time  had  come  when  internal  pressure  and  ex- 
ternal opportunity  made  the  fulfilment  of  Germany's 
designs  possible,"  continued  the  brilliant  British  author. 
"She  counted  on  disposing  of  both  Russia  and  France 
while  England  stood  aloof,  and  then  as  the  autocrat  and 
victor  of  Europe  to  pursue  her  will  against  this  coun- 
try. I  was  a  member  of  a  committee  for  the  promo- 
tion of  a  better  understanding  between  Germany  and 
Great  Britain  for  a  number  of  years.  Personally  I 
conceived  that  an  alliance  and  understanding  with  Ger- 
many was  immensely  desirable,  as  we  ought  to  be  nat- 
ural allies.  On  my  visits  to  Germany  of  late  years, 
financial  and  business  men  had  said  to  me  that  Ger- 


400     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

many  could  not  keep  spending  so  enormously  on  arma- 
ments without  reaching  the  breaking  point,  and  that 
therefore  something  heroic  must  take  place.  That  he- 
roic thing,  of  course,  was  war,  with  certain  victory 
and  immense  indemnity  and  valuable  territories,  which 
would  compensate  Germany  for  all  her  burdens  borne 
and  all  her  financial  expenditure  endured." 

"Is  it  British  conservative  opinion  that  Germany  had 
an  absolutely  defined  aggressive  programme?"  I  in- 
quired. 

"Not  British  conservative  opinion  alone,"  answered 
Sir  Gilbert,  "but  the  opinion  of  the  whole  country  is 
that  Germany  had  an  aggressive  programme,  and  it 
was  apparent  to  a  great  many  that  she  did  not  try  to 
conceal  it.  Herr  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  the  Imperial 
Chancellor,  declared  in  the  Reichstag  that  the  power  of 
a  nation  must  be  measured  by  its  armaments.  Ger- 
many's armament  was  to  make  her  the  predominant 
Power  of  Europe." 

"But  how  would  the  fact  that  Germany  asserted 
that  she  was  the  first  Power  hurt  France  or  England 
or  any  other  country,  so  far  as  the  welfare  of  their 
people  is  concerned?  After  all,  is  not  this  'first  Power' 
idea  a  matter  of  national  vanity  on  one  side  and  jeal- 
ousy on  the  other,  rather  than  of  concrete  advantage 
to  the  one  and  injury  to  the  other?" 

"By  no  means,"  answered  Sir  Gilbert,  "it  is  very  con- 
crete indeed !  It  means,  a  very  important  influence  on 
all  international  arrangements,  and  it  secures  the  in- 
terests of  the  dominant  Power.  It  may  do  much  more. 
It  may  rob  others  of  their  interests  as  Napoleon  did." 

"Is  it  British  conservative  opinion  that  Germany 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  401 

had  a  settled  policy  of  acquiring  territory  by  con- 
quest?" I  asked. 

"It  is  not  British  conservative  opinion.  It  is  the 
opinion  of  all  parties  now,"  Sir  Gilbert  exclaimed. 
"We  all  know  the  truth  at  last.  How  else  could  she 
get  territory?  And  she  has  avowed  her  intention  to 
get  it.  She  willed  her  'place  in  the  sun/  as  the  Ger- 
man expression  was.  This  meant  colonies,  of  course. 
But  practically  all  of  the  unoccupied  places  were  taken 
by  other  nations,  chiefly  by  Great  Britain  and  France. 
If  Germany  had  acted  before  all  desirable  and  unoccu- 
pied territory  had  been  taken  up,  she  would  of  course 
have  secured  a  portion;  but  she  did  not  act;  she  pre- 
ferred to  dream,  or  make  war  on  Denmark,  Austria 
and  France. 

"And  finally,"  continued  the  notable  British  writer, 
"finding  herself  without  any  desirable  portion  of  the 
earth  in  her  possession,  she  developed  the  idea  of  tak- 
ing what  she  wanted  by  force.  On  the  other  hand, 
making  war  to  acquire  territory  has  long  since  become 
a  thing  of  the  past  in  the  intentions  of  this  country. 
You  know,  for  example,  that  we  could  have  had 
Hawaii  and  Samoa.  We  declined  them.  We  could 
have  had  other  places  also.  But  we  declined  them. 
Whatever  other  objections  there  are  to  Russia,  the 
conquest  of  territory  is  not  one  of  them.  So  Germany, 
in  these  late  years,  was  the  one  Power  which  had  an 
aggressive  policy  of  territorial  acquisition  by  conquest. 

"For  example,  by  threat  to  China  she  received  Kiaou 
Chaou.  Then  she  turned  to  the  near  East,  and  di- 
rected her  attention  to  securing  a  controlling  influence 
in  Turkey  and  Asia  Minor,  with  a  view  to  commercial 


402     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

domination  from  the  Germanic  States  to  the  Persian 
Gulf.  This  was  to  be  advanced  by  the  Bagdad  rail- 
way enterprise." 

"But  what  has  that  to  do  with  the  present  war?"  I 
ventured. 

"It  is  one  of  the  origins  of  the  present  war,"  Sir 
Gilbert  explained.  "Go  back  a  little.  It  is  not  so  very 
long  ago  that  the  Balkan  States  were  in  a  state  of 
anarchy  and  constant  disorder,  misrule  and  bloodshed. 
They  were  all  engaged  in  cutting  one  another's  throats, 
under  the  suzerainty,  tyranny  and  misrule  of  Turkey. 
Servia  first  raised  the  flag  of  independence,  and  then 
came  Roumania,  and  the  others.  Most  of  these  were 
Slav  in  blood  and  sympathy.  It  became  necessary  for 
Germany  to  select  one  of  these  states  to  hold  the  others 
in  check.  Bulgaria  was  chosen,  and  Germany  almost 
succeeded  in  her  purposes  when  the  Balkan  League 
was  shattered.  But  Bulgaria  was  beaten  in  war,  and 
Germany's  plans  were  frustrated  for  the  moment. 
Then  came  the  Servian' incident.  If  Austria,  as  Ger- 
many's ally,  could  absorb  or  dominate  Servia,  the  way 
to  Turkey,  and  ultimately  into  the  Persian  Gulf,  was 
open,  and  the  coveted  territory  was  hers.  Russia 
could  not  permit  the  destruction  of  Servian  independ- 
ence. War  between  Germany  and  Russia  then  became 
inevitable,  unless  one  of  those  Powers  gave  way. 
Neither  would  give  way,  and  so  war  came.  Because 
of  her  alliance  with  Russia,  France  necessarily  became 
a  party.  And  because  we  could  not  afford  to  see 
France  crushed,  but  far  more  than  all  else,  because  of 
the  violation  of  Belgian  neutrality,  we  went  to  war." 

"But,  from  the  strict  view  of  British  interests,  even 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  403 

if  France  were  crushed,  how  would  Great  Britain  be 
injured?" 

"As  I  have  already  indicated,"  Sir  Gilbert  answered, 
"by  the  substitution  of  a  great,  aggressive,  powerful, 
military  nation  across  the  Channel  from  us,  in  place 
of  a  peaceful,  non-aggressive  and  non-military  nation. 
If  Germany  had  been  allowed  to  crush  France,  she 
would  have  annexed  territory  in  the  north  of  France 
along  the  Channel,  and  we  could  not  permit  that." 

"Do  you  mean  that  Germany  actually  would  have 
taken  that  part  of  northeastern  France,  on  whose  shores 
the  ports  of  Calais,  Dunkirk  and  Le  Havre  are  lo- 
cated?" 

"That  much,  of  course,  to  say  nothing  of  Bel- 
gium," said  Sir  Gilbert.  "France  as  a  first  class  Power 
would  have  ceased  to  exist." 

"Then,"  I  observed,  "England  really  went  to  war 
to  uphold  the  principle  of  the  equilibrium  of  Europe, 
first  formulated  by  Pitt  the  younger?" 

"Yes ;  and  in  this  case  that  principle  was  endangered 
in  an  extreme  and  exaggerated  form,"  Sir  Gilbert  ex- 
plained. "For  if  Germany  had  succeeded,  the  balance 
of  power  in  Europe  would  have  been  made  forever 
impossible." 

"Putting  aside  for  the  moment  the  violation  of  Bel- 
gian neutrality,  was  the  integrity  of  Belgium  con- 
sidered vital  to  England?"  I  asked. 

"Certainly,"  said  Sir  Gilbert.  "That  part  of  our 
policy  is  historic.  For  centuries,  we  have  been  the 
defenders  and  upholders  of  the  autonomy  of  Belgium 
and  the  Netherlands.  The  maintenance  of  these  small 
states  directly  opposite  our  shores  was  necessary  to 


404     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

our  safety  and  general  interests.  But  all  Europe  agreed 
that  their  independence  was  essential  to  the  continental 
equilibrium.  We  could  no  more  afford,  now,  to  permit 
Belgium  to  become  a  part  of  Germany  than  to  permit 
France  to  be  crushed  by  that  Power." 

"Are  the  people  of  England  of  this  mind,  Sir  Gil- 
bert?" 

"The  people  of  Great  Britain  are  absolutely  united 
in  support  of  the  war,"  answered  the  author-statesman. 
"The  handful  against  it  would  be  against  any  war  any- 
where." 

"What  will  the  outcome  be  ?"  I  asked. 

"Does  any  thoughtful  neutral  doubt  our  success?" 
he  exclaimed. 

"Assuming  that  you  are  victorious,  what  will  you  do 
with  your  victory?  What  terms  of  peace  will  you  im- 
pose on  Germany?" 

"That,"  answered  Sir  Gilbert,  "is  for  the  future.  It 
is  a  problem  for  constructive  statesmanship.  But  I 
may  say  that  at  least  one  thing  is  absolutely  certain: 
we  shall  destroy  Prussian  militarism.  We  hope  that 
never  again  shall  the  German  military  system  be  a 
menace  to  the  peace  of  Europe  and  the  world !" 

"And  just  how  will  the  German  military  system  be 
destroyed  ?" 

"That  is  not  the  problem  of  the  moment.  We  must 
first  have  victory  in  the  field,"  declared  Sir  Gilbert. 

"I  have  heard  it  suggested  many  times  by  the  man 
in  the  street  and  others  that  the  dismemberment  of  the 
German  Empire  is  the  one  sure  method  of  accomplish- 
ing the  result  you  suggest." 

"The  man  in  the  street  and  the  others  you  refer  to 


BRITISH    THOUGHT  405 

do  not  know  what  they  are  talking  about,"  Sir  Gilbert 
exclaimed.  "That  is  idle  chatter,"  he  continued.  "Eng- 
land will  not  dismember  Germany,  if  she  is  victorious. 
When  the  time  comes,  the  leaders  will  find  a  way  to 
accomplish  the  desired  result,  which  is  the  annihilation 
of  aggressive  German  militarism.  This  is  the  supreme 
object  which  the  whole  British  people  have  at  heart; 
they  will  trust  their  leaders  to  find  the  way  to  do  it 
when  we  have  secured  victory  in  the  field." 


XVI 

PROBABILITIES 

HOW  will  the  war  end?  Which  side  will  win? 
These  are  the  questions  which  most  Americans 
are  asking.  Amid  the  crash  of  the  most  gigantic  con- 
flict of  all  history  we  quite  naturally  take  little  time  to 
sound  the  deep  causes  of  this  tremendous  struggle  of 
peoples;  and  it  is  not  unreasonable  that  in  the  hurry 
of  our  daily  lives  we  should  be  content  with  hasty 
judgment  formed  from  first  reports  and  newspaper 
headlines.  So  the  common  query  is  "Which  side  will 
come  out  on  top?"  And  this  is  answered  according 
to  the  sympathies  of  the  questioner. 

But  what  economic  change  is  the  war  bringing 
about?  What  social  and  political  alterations  are  hap- 
pening? How  will  the  warring  countries  pay  their 
war  debts?  Are  not  these  questions  also  important? 
If  so,  their  possible  answer  is  the  object  of  this  chapter. 

The  impartial  student  of  conditions  who  has  been 
in  three  of  the  warring  countries  and  in  two  ad- 
joining neutral  nations  will  venture  no  prediction 
as  to  which  side  will  be  successful,  nor  as  to  how 
long  the  war  will  last.  It  might  possibly  collapse  as 
suddenly  as  it  began  and  two  or  three  months  might 
witness  the  peace  congress  in  session;  or  it  may  run 
on  for  two  or  three  or  even  four  years — some  well- 

406 


PROBABILITIES  407 

informed  men  and  careful  thinkers  in  the  countries  at 
war  believe  that  it  will  continue  for  a  very  long  time. 
There  are  those  among  the  ripest  scholars  and  weight- 
iest minds  in  Europe,  who  look  for  a  series  of  wars. 

Nor  will  the  investigator  who  has  been  on  the 
ground  hazard  prophecy  as  to  the  war's  outcome  in 
the  sense  of  which  side  will  triumph;  he  finds  so  many 
conditions  that  prevent  definite  judgment  and  make 
hasty  conclusion  ridiculous.  He  feels  that  at  the  pres- 
ent time  the  winner  can  not  be  named  with  certainty. 
One  product  of  the  war,  however,  is  being  forecast  by 
uniform  events  which  have  transpired  and  are  tran- 
spiring among  the  belligerent  peoples.  What  is  here 
set  down  is  to  bring  this  before  the  American  mind. 

It  is  merely  a  report  of  actual  conditions  and  of 
tendencies  so  plain  and  powerful  that  they  are  noted 
by  those  in  the  warring  countries  who  are  most  un- 
sympathetic with  them.  Nothing  is  here  stated  which 
the  most  conservative  mind  in  Europe  does  not  assert 
to  be  the  possible  and  even  the  probable  social  and 
economic  fruits  of  the  war. 

The  reader  will  seriously  underestimate  the  move- 
ment of  which  this  chapter  gives  examples  if  he  thinks 
these  lines  in  any  sense  the  mere  reflection  of  the 
writer's  opinion  only.  They  are  written  solely  to  lay 
before  the  American  people  what  already  has  been 
done  in  the  countries  at  war  and  what  the  wisest  of 
Europe  think,  some  with  terrified  reluctance  and  some 
with  eager  welcome,  will  follow;  and  no  judgment  is 
here  ventured  as  to  whether  what  is  happening  and  is 
likely  to  happen  is  right  or  wrong,  or  will  affect  man- 
kind well  or  ill. 


408     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

Each  step  in  the  neutral  investigator's  study  leads 
to  the  conclusion  that  one  consequence  of  the  war  is 
reasonably  probable.  No  matter  which  side  is  trium- 
phant, it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  world  will  behold  in 
the  countries  at  war  and  indeed  in  all  European  coun- 
tries except  Russia,  an  immeasurable  advance  of  dem- 
ocracy, expressed  in  terms  of  collectivism. 

Russia  is  excepted  because  of  the  nature  of  her  cul- 
ture, her  peculiar  mission,  and  the  still  comparatively 
uneducated  state  of  her  masses.  Even  Russia  may  be 
affected  by  the  popular  upheaval ;  but  no  one  can  pre- 
dict this  with  any  such  likelihood  as  marks  England, 
Germany  and  France. 

Russia's  destiny,  speaking  by  and  large,  would  seem 
to  be  toward  the  east.  Her  peculiar  culture  is  a  curi- 
ous yet  not  inharmonious  blending  of  oriental  and  oc- 
cidental tendencies  and  habits  of  thought.  She  is  a 
mingling  of  eastern  and  western  civilizations.  The 
Asiatic  element  in  her  history  and  development  leads 
rather  to  the  evolution  of  the  social  ideal  by  and 
through  autocratic  direction,  than  democratic  initia- 
tive; and  yet  in  local  matters  the  Russian  people  are 
self-governing  to  a  degree,  the  Russian  mir  being  more 
democratic  than  was  the  New  England  Town  Meet- 
ing. The  Russian  psychology  is  not  thoroughly  com- 
prehended by  western  nations. 

As  to  Russia's  position  after  the  war,  the  only  thing 
that  can  be  said  with  certainty  is  that  if  the  Allies 
are  successful,  Russia  will  be  the  one  great,  predom- 
inant military  power  of  the  world.  No  decree  of 
peace  congress  can  prevent  that  result.  Russia  is  a 
world  within  herself.  No  force  from  the  outside 


PROBABILITIES  409 

fundamentally  affects  her  notwithstanding  surlace  ap- 
pearances to  the  contrary.  Speaking  in  terms  of  cen- 
turies, no  obstacle  or  defeat  retards  her  steady  march. 
It  is  an  insecure  estimate  that  includes  Russia  in  a 
forecast  of  social,  political  and  economic  movements 
likely  to  affect  other  nations. 

For  Russia  is  peculiar  to  herself,  sufficient  unto  her- 
self. In  religion  she  is  "Holy  Russia."  In  ideals  she 
is  Slav  Russia.  In  language,  she  is  Russia  the  unique. 
In  population  she  is  Russia  the  cosmopolitan.  In  des- 
tiny she  is  Russia  the  unknown.  But  always  at  bottom 
she  is  Russia  the  militant.  All  these  things  are  said  not 
in  disparagement  of  that  great  empire  or  its  wonderful 
people ;  but  only  to  differentiate  it  and  them  from  the 
other  peoples  and  countries  of  Europe.  It  may  be  that 
the  unfolding  centuries  will  show  Russia  carrying  out 
the  purposes  of  Providence  and,  so,  bearing  blessings  to 
ends  of  earth  which  other  peoples,  at  present  more  de- 
veloped, could  not  reach. 

But  as  to  England,  France  and  Germany,  no  such 
reservation  is  necessary.  In  all  of  them  a  new  demo- 
cratic advance  is  under  way  already. 

One  who  has  stood  within  the  circle  of  fire  has  seen 
many  cherished  ideas  vanish  and  favorite  phrases  lose 
their  applicability.  One  of  these  is  that  this  war  is 
a  contest  between  absolutism  and  democracy.  To  the 
impartial  observer  on  the  ground  this  generalization 
appears  untrue.  On  the  contrary  it  would  seem  that 
the  mutual  ideal  allied  with  a  rational  individualism 
are  the  powers  that  will  really  triumph  and  already 
are  winning  on  every  French,  German  and  English 
battlefield. 


410     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

Instead  of  the  world  witnessing  a  combat  between 
despotism  and  liberty,  the  facts  would  seem  to  indicate 
that,  regardless  of  the  laurels,  democratic  collectivism 
is  being  forged  in  the  warring  countries  by  the  titanic 
blows  of  Armageddon,  more  quickly  and  more  firmly 
than  decades  of  peace  have  done.  The  mutual  spirit 
already  has  made  a  progress  which  very  few  ever 
dreamed  to  be  possible.  It  is  not  extravagant  to  say 
that  time  may  show  that  the  war  marked  the  passage 
of  an  old  economic  dispensation  and  the  coming  of  a 
new  social  and  industrial  period. 

Just  as  the  Napoleonic  wars  saw  ancient  political 
systems  disappear  in  flame  and  blood,  so  the  present 
conflict  may  be  the  labor  pains  of  a  new  economic 
and  governmental  era  for  occidental  peoples.  Indeed, 
if  only  the  laws  already  passed  and  the  measures  al- 
ready adopted  remain  in  operation  after  peace  stills 
the  cannon  and  sheathes  the  sword,  western  Europe 
will  have  undergone  a  revolution  in  that  regard.  For 
stern  necessity  has  forced  the  practical  application  of 
so  many  hitherto  unaccepted  theories  that  almost  it 
may  be  said  that  the  principle  of  collectivism  is  con- 
ducting the  war. 

It  was  natural  for  Germany  to  take  the  lead  in  this, 
since  long  ago  she  had  made  notable  progress  in  this 
direction.  Her  system  of  old  age  pensions,  industrial 
insurance,  trust  management  and  the  like,  had  shown 
that  many  scoffed-at  doctrines  are  not  only  workable 
but  beneficial.  In  Germany  the  Social  Democratic 
party  was  and  is  more  compact  in  its  organization, 
larger  in  its  numbers,  and  more  practical  in  its  de- 
mands, than  in  any  other  country. 


PROBABILITIES  411 

So  it  surprised  nobody  when,  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  a  law  was  passed  fixing  maximum  prices  on  the 
necessaries  of  life.  Then  came  a  measure  providing 
for  the  care  of  women  of  the  working  classes  during 
the  child-birth  period.  The  next  step  in  this  class  of 
legislation  authorized  the  government  to  take  over 
basic  foodstuffs  (paying  the  owners  the  maximum 
price  therefor)  and  to  distribute  the  product  equally 
among  all  the  people  at  the  lowest  possible  cost,  in  no 
case  exceeding  the  maximum  price. 

Thus  the  cornering  of  life's  necessities  by  speculators 
was  effectually  prevented.  Thus,  too,  that  misery  and 
want  which  the  birth  of  children  so  often  brings  in 
the  families  of  working  men  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
enfeeblement  of  the  child  on  the  other  hand,  was  over- 
come. In  short,  economic  equality  was  thus  percept- 
ibly advanced  and  the  chasm  between  wealth  and  pov- 
erty spanned  for  the  moment,  narrow  and  feeble  as 
the  bridge  may  be. 

Such  are  examples  of  some  of  the  laws  and  of  their 
effect  which  the  war  already  has  written  upon  the 
statute  books  of  Germany.  Others  may  be  and  prob- 
ably will  be  enacted.  A  bill  is  pending  providing  for 
the  insuring  against  non-employment  during  the  period 
of  enforced  idleness,  the  man  who  is  able  and  willing 
to  work  but  can  get  no  work  to  do;  and  it  probably 
will  be  passed  if  necessary. 

In  France  the  same  tendency  is  observable,  although 
fewer  laws  of  the  kind  here  outlined  have  been  passed 
in  France  than  in  any  of  the  warring  countries.  Yet  in 
France  the  Prime  Minister,  Viviani,  is  a  Socialist,  and 
the  most  eloquent  orator  in  that  party  since  the  assas- 


412' -WHAT  I  IS   BACK   OF"  THE   WAR 

sination  of  Jaurez;  the  Secretary  of  War,  Millirand, 
a  man  of  distinguished  ability,  has  been  counted  a 
Socialist,  although  he  now  is  considered  a  "moderate," 
that  is,  a  conservative-radical.  But  although  few  laws 
have  been  passed  such  as  Germany  promptly  enacted, 
yet  much  the  same  results  have  been  achieved.  Just 
how  this  happens  to  be  the  case  is  difficult  to  explain. 

Persons  who  have  lived  in  France  for  many  years 
and  whose  business  it  is  to  study  French  conditions, 
assert  that  the  government  at  present  is  a  military  dic- 
tatorship under  the  forms  of  a  parliamentary  govern- 
ment and  responsible  ministry.  A  plausible  explana- 
tion of  French  political  phenomena  at  the  present  mo- 
ment is  the  willingness  of  French  people  to  do  and 
submit  to  anything  which  will  bring  victory  on  the  one 
hand  and  their  reluctance  to  part,  in  so  formal  a  way 
as  by  a  written  law,  with  their  individualistic  ideal  on 
the  other  hand.  But  the  upshot  of  it  all  is  that  the 
same  movement  is  conspicuous  in  France  which,  by 
definite  laws  and  their  practical  administration,  has  set 
up  such  advanced  economic  and  industrial  mile  posts 
in  Germany. 

In  England,  the  Defense  of  the  Realms  act,  passed 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  gave  the  government 
sweeping  power ;  and  under  it  the  national  authorities 
at  once  took  charge  of  the  railroads.  For  various  rea- 
sons, the  factories  of  this  greatest  manufacturing  na- 
tion on  earth  did  not  meet,  promptly  and  abundantly, 
the  nation's  emergency  in  producing  war  materials; 
and  a  large  number  of  British  employees  did  not  re- 
spond to  the  needs  of  the  time,  in  length  of  their 


PROBABILITIES  413 

working  hours,  application  to  their  tasks,  or  even  will- 
ingness to  do  urgent  labor. 

So,  after  seven  months  of  the  war,  conditions  forced 
Parliament  to  enact  a  law  giving  the  government  power 
to  commandeer  the  whole  manufacturing  and  trans- 
porting industry  of  the  United  Kingdom — every  fac- 
tory, every  dock,  every  shipyard,  every  acre  of  vacant 
ground.  The  British  press  at  once  declared  that  in 
passing  this  statute  Parliament  had  taken  a  revolution- 
ary step — some  papers  bluntly  asserted  that  the  com- 
mandeering law  is  State  Socialism.  Under  it,  the 
whole  industry  of  the  British  Islands  may  be  turned 
from  private  profit  to  public  service,  with  compensa- 
tion by  the  State.* 

The  fact  that  in  France  and  Germany  the  prices  of 
food  and  fuel  had  been  kept  within  the  reach  of  the 
masses,  while  in  England  these  necessaries  of  life  had 
risen  until  they  were  almost  if  not  quite  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  chilled  and  unnourished  hands  of  the 
poor;  the  assertion  by  the  masses  of  the  needy  that 
individuals  and  private  concerns  were  making  enor- 
mous profits  by  cornering  supplies  and  raising  prices, 
which  in  some  few  cases  may  have  been  true;  and 
finally  the  passage  of  the  Commandeering  Bill,  all  com- 
bined to  give  body  and  force  to  a  popular  demand  that 
the  principles  of  this  measure  should  be  applied  to  food 
and  fuel  for  the  provisioning  of  the  people  at  home 
as  well  as  to  the  production  of  war  material  for  the 
equipment  of  armies  in  the  field. 

This  demand  is  so  strong,  the  arguments  for  it  so 
potent,  that,  if  war  long  continues,  it  is  not  impossible 

*See  Chapter  XIII. 


414     WHAT    IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

that  the  government  may  be  forced  to  meet  it  by  tak- 
ing measures  similar  to  those  long  since  adopted  in 
Germany.  As  a  part  of  this  movement,  the  proposal 
is  making  headway  that  agriculture  should  be  nation- 
alized, just  as  manufacture  already  has  been  national- 
ized for  war  purposes.  Careful  observers  have  thought 
that  there  are  indications  that  this  factor  in  England  is 
silently  working  for  peace ;  they  say  that  the  conserva- 
tive classes  think  they  see  Socialism  ahead  of  them  if 
war  goes  on  for  long. 

Many  Americans  will  assume,  of  course,  that  all 
these  war  measures  will  be  repealed  when  the  grave 
occasion  that  forced  their  enactment  no  longer  exists. 
But  this  is  by  no  means  certain.  Government  monop- 
oly of  foodstuffs  probably  will  be  done  away  with  in 
Germany;  but  maximum  prices  will  be  discontinued 
only  where  it  is  clear  that  the  common  welfare  and 
the  rebuilding  of  German  business  require.  It  is  likely 
that  in  Germany  the  other  war  measures  will  remain. 
As  everybody  knows,  the  government  has  owned  and 
operated  the  railways  for  many  years  in  that  country 
and  many  other  measures  of  state  helpfulness  have 
long  been  on  Germany's  statute  books. 

Very  conservative  level-headed  English  business 
men  are  inclined  to  think  that  government  manage- 
ment of  British  railways  will  not  be  relinquished;  and 
the  great  mass  of  British  working  men  are  positive  that 
this  form  of  transportation  management  has  come  to 
stay.  While,  of  course,  government  control  of  indus- 
trial plants  established  by  the  Commandeering  Bill  will 
not  be  kept  up  in  England,  yet  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  the  principle  of  public  control  of  great  busi- 


PROBABILITIES  415 

ness  concerns  will  be  retained  to  an  extent  which  few 
would  have  ventured  to  prophesy  a  year  ago. 

Also,  the  movement  for  national  regulation  of  prices 
of  basic  life  necessities  has  had  a  tremendous  impetus 
and  will  not  wholly  recede  with  the  coming  of  peace. 
In  fact,  the  most  thoughtful  and  moderate  minded  men 
of  all  parties  agree  that  the  social  ideal  and  idea  have 
made  gigantic  strides  since  Great  Britain  opened  the 
doors  of  the  temple  of  Janus. 

"If  the  war  should  go  on  for  a  year  longer,  the  re- 
turn of  peace  will  bring  an  entire  reconstruction  of 
English  political  parties,"  said  one  of  the  most  eminent 
and  reliable  of  contemporary  British  statesmen.  "The 
Conservative  party  of  a  year  ago  will  have  moved  up 
to  where  the  Liberal  party  then  stood ;  and  the  Liberal 
party  of  yesterday  will  become  the  Conservative  party 
of  to-morrow.  The  Liberal  party  of  the  future  will  be 
distinctly  socialistic." 

The  laws  actually  passed  in  the  countries  at  war  and 
others  which  may  be  enacted  were,  and  will  be,  of 
course,  forced  by  a  common  emergency;  but  the  prin- 
ciple which  runs  through  all  of  them  is  government 
control  of  fundamentals  for  the  common  good.  They 
are  fruits  of  the  community  spirit  quickly  ripened  by 
the  heated  atmosphere  of  war.  Nor  will  any  govern- 
ment, without  protest,  be  able  to  take  that  fruit  from 
the  people  after  the  millions  of  soldiers  go  back  to  the 
plow  and  the  anvil.  The  common  man  and  especially 
the  working  man  will  return  from  the  battlefield  to  the 
fireside  with  larger  stature  than  when  he  was  called 
to  the  colors — with  larger  stature  and  clothed  with 
larger  powers. 


In  Germany  this  can  be  seen  even  now;  for  at  the 
very  outset  German  working  men  threw  themselves  into 
the  conflict  with  immense  enthusiasm  and  have  done, 
are  doing,  and  will  do  a  large  part  of  the  righting. 
In  fact,  German  scholars,  Socialists  and  business  men 
say  that  Germany  could  not  have  waged  war  as  she 
has  done  without  the  hearty  and  whole-souled  support 
of  German  laborers.  Doctor  Albert  Siidekum,  leader 
of  the  German  Social  Democratic  party,  asserted*  that 
more  than  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  German 
Socialists  are  at  the  front,  many  of  whom  are  volun- 
teers. The  Socialist  and  Trades  Union  Papers  go 
regularly  to  the  Socialists  and  Trades  Unionists  on  the 
battle  lines. 

These  men  are  pouring  out  their  blood  for  the 
Fatherland  with  such  sacrificing  devotion  that  the 
whole  nation  recognizes  its  debt  to  them;  and  they 
reciprocally  recognize  the  equally  heroic  services  of 
every  other  class  in  the  German  nation.  Thus  is  be- 
ing woven  a  mutual  understanding  and  appreciation 
which  nothing  but  common  danger,  suffering,  and  sac- 
rifice for  a  common  end  could  produce.  The  capital- 
ist is  fighting  side  by  side  with  the  employee ;  the  man 
of  learning  and  distinction  is  the  trench  companion  of 
the  farmer;  even  the  Emperor  calls  the  common  sol- 
dier "comrade."  In  short,  with  the  Germans,  the  bat- 
tlefield has  become  a  hothouse  of  democracy. 

So,  when  the  war  is  over,  the  views  of  Germany's 
Social  Democratic  party  will  receive  from  other  classes 
a  respectful  consideration  not  hitherto  accorded  such 


*  January,   1915 ;   see  "German   Thought  Back  of   the  War," 
Chapter  VIII. 


PROBABILITIES  417 

men  in  any  country.  There  will  be  no  light  and  hasty 
repeal  of  laws  without  their  consent.  And  their  pro- 
posals will  be  examined  with  patient  and  considerate 
thought  fulness;  for  to  their  former  arguments  they 
then  will  be  able  to  add  the  convincing  one  that  their 
theories  have  been  tested,  accompanied  by  the  persua- 
sive influence  of  the  crimson  sacrifice  they  have  made 
without  stint  on  the  altar  of  patriotism.  Unless  pres- 
ent appearances  are  utterly  deceptive,  and  war  time 
sentiment  a  mere  transient  emotion,  the  careful  stu- 
dent of  conditions  in  Germany  can  not  but  conclude 
that  what  is  here  set  down  is  well  recognized  by  all 
classes  of  the  German  people. 

Nor  can  there  be  much  question  that  there  will  be 
a  redistribution  of  legislative  power  to  the  end  that 
the  will  of  German  voters  will  be  more  potent  in  Ger- 
many's law-making  bodies.  It  will  not  be  surprising 
if  the  Imperial  constitution  is  amended;  even  conserva- 
tive German  business  men  well  versed  in  Germany's 
political,  social  and  economic  system,  will  not  be  aston- 
ished if  the  Bundesrath  is  considerably  changed. 

In  all  that  is  proposed,  the  views  of  the  Emperor 
will  be  of  the  greatest  possible  weight  in  forming  Ger- 
man public  opinion  if  his  present  unprecedented  popu- 
larity continues;  for  William  II  is  stronger  to-day  in 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  German  people  than 
at  any  time  since  he  ascended  the  throne. 

Few  modern  rulers  have  had  more  criticism,  out- 
spoken, loud-voiced  and  savage,  than  William  II  has 
had  in  the  past,  from  his  own  people  in  his  own  land ; 
but  not  many  sovereigns  in  history  have  had  such  trust, 
faith  and  affection  as  the  German  Emperor  enjoys,  at 


418     WHAT   IS   BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

the  present  moment,  from  the  vast  majority  of  Ger- 
mans in  Germany.  His  ceaseless  and  toilsome  attention 
to  his  duties;  his  whole-hearted  devotion  to  German 
welfare  in  which  is  no  trace  of  the  alloy  of  selfish- 
ness; his  great  ability  and  immense  information; 
his  profoundly  religious  nature — all  this  and  much 
more,  which  are  understood  and  appreciated  in  Ger- 
many, will  give  the  Emperor  large  and  command- 
ing moral  power  with  the  people  (should  he  retain 
his  present  hold  on  the  popular  heart)  on  any  ques- 
tion the  nation  may  decide  in  those  still  and  fate- 
ful days  that  follow  the  cataclysmic  concussions  that 
now  are  rocking  the  foundations  of  the  world. 

In  England,  where  government  control  and  social 
reform  has  made  no  such  progress  as  in  Germany, 
the  advance  of  democratic  collectivism  will  be  more 
startling  and  dramatic  than  in  the  latter  country. 
Great  Britain  already  (March,  1915)  is  said  to  have 
two  million  five  hundred  thousand  volunteers  and  by 
the  coming  of  autumn  a  half  million  more  enlistments 
may  have  been  secured.  Scores  of  thousands  of  these 
young  men  left  their  jobs  to  serve  the  state;  scores  of 
thousands  of  others  were  unemployed  when  they  en- 
listed. 

When  the  army  is  disbanded,  what  will  become  of 
the  soldier  who  had  a  job  at  the  time  he  enlisted,  when 
he  goes  back  and  finds  his  place  filled — and  it  will  be 
filled,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  are  more 
laborers  in  England  than  there  are  jobs  and  that  the 
immense  majority  of  British  working  men  have  not 
gone  to  the  front. 

Will  the  returned  working  man  be  given  his  old 


PROBABILITIES  419 

place?  If  so,  what  will  the  man  do  who  finds  himself 
thus  thrust  out  of  employment? 

And  what  of  the  multitude  of  volunteers  who  had 
no  jobs  and  come  back  to  enforced  idleness  and  pov- 
erty? They  have  been  paid,  fed,  clothed,  cared  for, 
during  the  war.  When  they  lay  aside  their  uniforms 
and  hand  over  to  the  government  their  rifles,  may 
they  not  say  something  like  this : 

"I  was  willing  to  fight  for  the  country  and  the  gov- 
ernment cared  for  me  while  I  was  doing  it ;  now  I  am 
willing  to  work  for  the  country  and  the  government 
must  care  for  me  while  I  am  doing  it.  I  am  not 
willing  to  starve;  I  am  not  willing  to  see  my  wife 
and  children  perish  from  hunger  and  cold.  If  the 
nation  could  feed,  clothe  and  pay  me  for  the  destruc- 
tive work  I  did  for  it  in  time  of  war,  why  can  it  not 
pay,  feed  and  clothe  me  for  the  constructive  work  I 
am  anxious  to  do  for  it  in  time  of  peace?" 

May  not  such  things  be  said  by  those  who  return 
from  the  fields  of  blood  and  find  themselves  destitute 
and  without  employment  or  the  reasonable  hope  of  it? 
May  not  such  things  be  said !  They  are  being  said  right 
now,  by  those  who  have  not  gone  to  the  front. 

Of  course,  such  demands  will  not  be  granted.  But 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  important  social  devel- 
opments will  grow  out  of  them.  For  the  United  King- 
dom even  now  (March,  1915)  is  seething  with  social 
and  industrial  unrest.  Is  it  unreasonable  to  surmise 
that  agitation  will  be  kindled  to  a  fervid  heat  when 
peace  adds  to  it  the  fuel  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
idle  men  who  feel  and  justly  feel  that  they  have  offered 
their  lives  for  their  country? 


420     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

The  case  is  not  the  same  as  that  of  the  soldiers  of 
our  Civil  War.  In  the  first  place,  they  were  not  discon- 
tented when  the  war  closed ;  and,  in  the  next  place,  our 
country  was  sparsely  peopled  (and  still  is  compared 
to  European  countries),  and  there  then  was  an  abund- 
ance of  free  land.  Our  Republic  was  undeveloped  and 
there  was  employment  as  well  as  land  for  all. 

Great  Britain  has  a  somewhat  similar  though  distant 
outlet  for  England's  mass  of  probable  discontent;  and 
to  this  the  more  optimistic  English  thinkers  look  with 
hope  and  confidence.  Such  men  believe  that  the  dis- 
banding of  the  army  will  be  followed  by  a  large  emi- 
gration of  discharged  soldiers  and  their  families  to 
.Canada  and  Australia.  This  forecast  is  not  without 
reason.  Canada's  admirable  immigration  propaganda 
will  make  strong  efforts  to  get  just  such  immigrants. 
Canada's  immigration  policy  and  laws,  which  are  the 
best  the  world  ever  has  seen  and  the  best  administered, 
have  sought  with  discriminating  care  immigrants  from 
carefully  selected  portions  of  Europe,  high  preference 
being  given  to  those  from  the  British  Islands. 

The  employment  of  labor  is  not  the  only  nor  even 
the  largest  factor  making  for  the  advance  of  democ- 
racy among  the  British  people.  There  is  another  and 
more  important  one.  It  is  spiritual  and  intangible. 
Notwithstanding  the  technical  liberty  and  legal  equal- 
ity of  rights  prevailing  in  the  British  Islands,  the  so- 
cial strata  are  as  distinctly  and  clearly  marked  as 
though  fixed  by  law.  The  war  is  breaking  this  up. 

The  British  farmer,  laborer  and  clerk,  now  fighting 
in  Flanders,  will  return  across  the  Channel  appareled 
with  a  new  dignity.  That  he  will  make  this  manifest 


PROBABILITIES  421 

in  political  affairs  would  seem  to  be  only  human  na- 
ture. 

If  it  is  asked  why  this  will  be  more  true  to-day 
than  in  the  period  of  Great  Britain's  former  wars, 
the  answer  is,  first,  that  she  never  in  her  history  put 
into  the  field  anything  to  compare  with  the  numbers 
she  has  enlisted  for  the  present  war ;  second,  that  most 
of  her  conflicts  since  the  Napoleonic  wars  have  been 
fought  by  her  professional  army;  and  third,  that 
since  the  Napoleonic  period  democratic  ideas  have  been 
sown  thickly  among  the  masses  of  the  people  and  that 
now  war  is  ripening  them  into  a  fruitage  not  only  of 
laws  but  of  spirit,  character  and  conduct. 

In  Germany  this  democratic  spirit  was  manifest  at 
the  very  beginning.  It  was  illustrated  in  dramatic 
fashion  by  the  throngs  of  men  not  called  to  the  colors 
who  demanded  to  be  taken.  When  the  war  has  passed 
into  history,  this  neglected  but  picturesque  and  mean- 
ingful circumstance  will  make  a  thrilling  chapter  in 
the  history  of  this  greatest  of  all  wars. 

The  democratic  spirit  in  Germany  was  quickly 
voiced  from  trench,  battery-pit  and  battlefield.  Un- 
countable letters  from  soldiers  at  the  front  expressed 
it;  and  a  multitude  of  verses  written  by  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men  from  blacksmith  and  bricklayer  to 
scientist  and  writer,  gave  verbal  form  to  the  Ger- 
man poetic  instinct.  For  example,  consider  the  fol- 
lowing lines  of  a  German  war  poem  : 

"The  same  coat  and  our  rights  the  same, 
Comrades — forgotten  rank  and  name; 


422     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

The  same  wage,  and  the  same  bread, 

In  sleep  and  death  the  selfsame  bed, 
For  one  as  for  the  other." 

Men  in  England,  who  are  looking  ahead,  understand 
this  change  which  the  war  is  working  on  individual 
character.  That  brilliant  journalist,  A.  G.  Gardiner, 
in  an  essay  printed  in  the  London  News  and  Leader 
of  February  27th,  remarkable  for  its  breadth,  fore- 
sight and  power,  declares  that : 

"Whatever  the  result,  the  world  that  will  emerge 
when  the  deluge  of  blood  has  subsided  will  be  a  world 
that  will  be  new  and  strange.  There  will  be  a  chasm 
between  us  and  our  past  unlike  anything  else  in  his- 
tory. It  will  be  as  if  generations  of  normal  change 
have  been  swallowed  up  in  the  abyss. 

"The  old  landmarks  will  have  gone ;  the  things  that 
used  to  seem  important  will  have  become  negligible; 
social  relationships  will  have  been  transformed;  ideas 
that  were  infinitely  remote  will  have  burgeoned,  as 
it  were,  in  a  night — nothing  will  be  quite  as  it  used 
to  be.  Humanity  will  have  opened  not  a  new  chap- 
ter, but  a  new  age.  It  will  be  like  him  who  looked 
out  over 

' .    .    .    a  universal  blank  of  Nature's  works, 
To  him  expunged  and  razed  :' 

but  it  will  be  a  blank  upon  which  we  shall  write  the 
future  in  new  terms  and  in  a  new  language.    .    .    . 
"A  new  England  is  coming  to  birth  in  the  trenches 


PROBABILITIES  423 

of  Flanders.  The  life  of  three  million  men,  the  flower 
of  the  nation,  is  being  revolutionised.  That  young 
man  who  has  gone  from  the  plough  will  not  return  to 
the  plough  on  the  same  conditions.  He  has  made  a 
discovery.  Up  to  August  last  he  seemed  of  rather 
less  importance  than  the  cattle  in  the  fields,  for  they 
always  were  well  fed  and  well  stalled ;  while  his  whole 
life  had  been  a  struggle  with  grinding  poverty. 

"Suddenly  he  is  exalted  high  above  the  cattle.  He 
is  a  person  of  consequence.  The  statesman,  the  squire, 
the  parson,  the  magistrate — all  become  his  suitors.  He 
is  dressed  for  the  first  time  in  good  clothes  and  good 
boots;  he  is  well  fed  and  well  housed;  he  has  pocket 
money;  if  he  has  a  wife  and  children,  they  are  better 
off  than  they  ever  were  before;  if  he  dies  their  future 
will  be  assured  as  it  would  never  have  been  assured 
had  he  lived. 

"It  is  all  like  a  miracle.  The  discovery  he  has  made 
is  that  when  the  real  emergency  comes  his  life  is  as 
valuable  to  the  state  as  any  life.  And  the  thought  that 
is  dawning  on  him  is  this:  If  I  am  so  necessary  to 
the  state  in  time  of  war,  the  state  must  be  just  to  me 
in  time  of  peace  when  I  am  doing  its  work  no  less 
worthily  and  no  less  vitally  than  on  the  battlefield." 

As  to  the  social  and  economic  revolution  which  is  in 
progress,  Mr.  Gardiner  says : 

"If  we  had  eyes  and  ears  for  what  is  happening 
inside  and  outside  the  House  we  should  be  startled  by 
its  significance.  Mr.  Lloyd-George  doubles  the  income 
tax  and  the  city  declares  that  he  should  have  a  duke- 


424     WHAT    IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

dom.  The  railways  are  taken  over  by  the  state  with  a 
stroke  of  the  pen,  and  the  state  becomes  the  guarantor 
of  banker  and  trader  as  well  as  of  the  interests  of 
three  millions  of  its  citizens.  We  have  found  that  in 
time  of  crisis  the  state  is  everything  and  private  in- 
terest nothing.  It  will  not  be  without  resistance  that 
private  interest  will  recover  its  old  dominion  over  the 
state." 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  just  such  analysis  going 
on  in  England;  not  by  light-minded  persons  or  agi- 
tators, but  by  serious  thinkers  and  painstaking  stu- 
dents. 

Another  circumstance  which  is  impressing  the  peo- 
ples at  war  is  the  efficiency  of  collective  effort,  under 
government  control  and  direction.  Why,  it  is  asked  by 
the  private  in  the  ranks,  can  not  individual  enterprise 
do  the  gigantic  work  essential  in  war  time?  Not  en- 
tirely because  private  management  is  not  willing  to 
devote  itself  whole-heartedly  to  patriotic  service;  for 
no  matter  how  earnest  the  wish  of  individual  or  cor- 
poration to  do  the  indispensable  work,  it  seems  that 
they  can  not  perform  with  the  necessary  precision, 
timeliness  and  power,  the  mountainous  tasks  required. 

This  is  the  basic  reason  why  the  railroads  were  taken 
over  by  the  governments  of  those  countries  where  gov- 
ernment ownership  did  not  already  prevail,  as  in  Ger- 
many. 

Most  writers  and  the  reading  public  are  interested 
in  the  dramatic  visions  of  a  modern  battle;  yet  the 
organization  which  prepares  for  the  struggle  is  more 
wonderful  than  the  thrilling  deadliness  of  the  actual 


PROBABILITIES  425 

conflict  itself.  The  witness  of  a  day  of  battle  who 
sees  endless  trains  of  ammunition  and  provision  wag- 
ons ;  the  movements  of  troops ;  the  preparation  and  dis- 
tribution of  food  for  men  and  provender  for  horses; 
the  immense  and  intricate  arrangements  for  the  care 
of  wounded;  field  hospitals,  ambulances,  waiting 
trains  and,  in  short,  all  the  details  that  focus  and  care 
for  masses  of  men  and  great  numbers  of  guns  at  any 
given  point  in  a  battle  line  a  hundred  miles  long — is 
impressed  with  the  tremendous  efficiency  of  the  or- 
ganization that  makes  such  gigantic  operations  possi- 
ble. 

One  division  of  that  organization  finds  the  required 
troops  and  has  them  on  the  ground  where  they  are 
needed  and  when  they  are  needed.  This  itself  is  a 
staggering  performance.  Another  section  of  the  great 
organization  attends  to  the  roads  over  which  the  men 
must  march  and  the  guns,  ammunition  and  provisions 
must  be  hauled — the  condition  of  every  yard  of  high- 
way and  crossroads  must  be  accurately  known,  for  a 
single  mud  hole  might  mean  dangerous  delay,  and  every 
foot  of  the  road  to  be  used,  must,  if  humanly  possible, 
be  in  repair.  Still  another  part  of  the  organization 
must  look  after  the  wounded,  being  prepared  for  im- 
mense casualties.  Yet  another  division  must  have  con- 
tinually at  the  front  food  for  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  men  and  tens  of  thousands  of  horses.  An  auditing 
department  must  account  for  every  cent  of  the  enor- 
mous expenditures.* 

And  these  are  only  examples.  Yet  all  these  parts 
of  one  vast  organization  work  in  perfect  harmony, 
smoothly  and  without  friction,  promptly  and  without 

*  See  Chapter  IV,  pp.  104-109. 


426     WHAT   IS -BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

waste  of  time  and  effort.  The  men  at  the  head  of 
its  various  sections  are  gifted  by  nature  with  executive 
ability,  and  practice  has  made  them  experts.  They 
have  been  tried  out  by  experience  and  their  final  se- 
lection has  been  made  upon  tested  merit.  And  they 
find  satisfaction  and  even  pleasure  in  doing  well  their 
herculean  tasks.  Yet  they  are  servants  of  the  state; 
their  financial  reward  is  insignificant,  almost  infinitesi- 
mal compared  with  the  salaries  paid  by  private  enter- 
prise to  men  who  do  not  perform  a  fraction  of  the 
labor  done  by  these  government  agents. 

If  one  will  extend  the  illustration  of  military  effi- 
ciency in  battle  to  other  lines  of  public  effort  less  vivid 
but  quite  as  large  and  difficult,  one  will  see  why  the 
peoples  now  at  war  are  getting  object  lessons  in  gov- 
ernment administration  of  big  affairs — object  lessons 
so  towering  that  the  dullest  common  soldier  can  not 
fail  to  see  them  and  does  not  fail  to  see  them. 

It  is  not  unthinkable,  therefore,  that  when  the  war  is 
over,  the  common  man,  thus  taught  in  war  time,  will  de- 
mand the  application  of  the  same  methods  to  great  in- 
dustries which  affect  the  public  welfare  in  peace  time; 
and  this,  too,  not  alone  upon  the  ground  of  efficiency 
and  economy,  but  even  more  largely  as  a  matter  of 
making  great  industrial  concerns  public  profit-earning 
enterprises  instead  of  private  profit-earning  enter- 
prises. 

A  very  large  circumstance  will  give  uncommon 
power  to  this  movement.  Indeed,  it  will  be  the  strong- 
est influence  for  the  democratization  of  industry  re- 
sulting from  the  war.  This  is  the  war  debt.  How  will  it 


PROBABILITIES  427 

be  paid?  How  will  it  be  possible  to  pay  it  by  the  old 
methods?  The  question  has  been  asked  and  by  mod- 
erate-minded men,  whether  the  next  decade  will  not 
behold  the  beginning  of  an  almost  world-wide  repudia- 
tion of  obligations  so  vast  as  to  be  impossible  of  pay- 
ment. Such  a  prospect,  however,  is  not  substantial. 
But,  that  new  methods  of  payment  of  this  unthinkably 
enormous  war  debt  must  be  devised,  is  reasonably  cer- 
tain. 

Here  again  democratic  collectivism  steps  in  with  a 
plausible  plan.  This  plan  is  that  the  governments  of 
the  debtor  countries  shall  take  over  basic  industries 
(or  retain  them  where  already  they  have  been  taken 
over  for  war  purposes)  and  from  their  profits  dis- 
charge these  vast  war  obligations.  The  advocates  of 
this  plan  cite  the  immense  income  which  such  sources 
of  revenue  would  yield. 

A  movement  is  already  discernible  in  more  than 
one  of  the  countries  at  war  to  solve  this  desperate 
fiscal  problem  by  having  the  government  operate  steel 
mills,  coal  and  other  mines,  railways,  shipping  and 
ship  building,  and  such  like  basic  standard  sources  of 
production  and  distribution  and  devote  their  massed 
earnings  to  a  discharge  of  the  indebtedness  which  war 
has  created.  Should  this  be  done,  it  is  likely  to  be- 
come permanent  rather  than  a  mere  temporary  ex- 
pedient; for  if  the  countries  involved  succeed  in  pay- 
ing their  war  debts  in  this  way  rather  than  by  the  old- 
fashioned  methods  of  taxation,  is  it  not  probable  that 
the  people  will  demand  that  peace  expenses  be  paid  in 
the  same  way  instead  of  in  the  old  way? 


428     WHAT   IS    BACK    OF   THE   WAR 

This  new  advance  of  democracy,  in  the  belligerent 
nations,  is  being  vitalized  by  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
and  mutual  helpfulness  new  to  the  modern  world.  For 
example,  at  least  in  France  and  Germany,  nobody,  it 
seems,  is  thinking  of  himself  or  herself,  hardly  even 
of  his  or  her  family.  The  human  sympathy  of  each 
man  and  woman  raised  to  the  heights  of  exaltation  is 
both  individual  and  collective ;  it  flows  out  not  only  to 
each  needy  and  suffering  one,  but  also  spreads  to  the 
whole  community  and  to  the  nation. 

In  Germany  and  France  no  one  thinks  of  asking 
"What  can  I  do  for  myself,"  but  "What  can  I  do  for 
others?"  Their  joy  is  in  giving.  They  are  thrilled 
by  the  beauty  of  helpfulness.  They  have  discovered 
the  ecstasy  of  devotion  to  others.  They  have  experi- 
enced the  glory  of  self-sacrifice.  Almost  it  would  seem 
that,  in  Germany  and  France,  the  soul  has  broken  the 
bands  of  self  and  is  mounting  upward  on  wings  of 
light.  These  sentences  will  appear  extravagant  to  us, 
dwelling  in  security  and  in  comfort;  but  they  are  writ- 
ten deliberately  because  they  are  necessary  to  bring 
to  the  American  mind  the  moral  and  spiritual  change 
that  war  has  wrought  in  the  countries  where  its  blows 
have  been  most  cruel. 

Another  result  of  the  war  which  is  reasonably  prob- 
able is  the  extension  of  international  law  for  the  pro- 
tection of  private  property  on  the  sea  in  war  time. 
At  present  international  law  permits  and  justifies  a 
belligerent  power  to  capture  ships  and  cargoes  sailing 
under  the  flag  of  a  hostile  nation. 

After  the  war,  the  whole  structure  of  international 


PROBABILITIES  429 

law  will  be  built  upon  new  and  more  rational  founda- 
tions; and  one  of  these  will  be  that  merchant  ships 
carrying  a  purely  commercial  cargo  totally  uncon- 
nected with  war  shall  be  unmolested  no  matter  under 
what  flag  that  ship  sails,  to  or  from  what  port  it  is 
bound,  or  in  what  country  it  is  owned. 

The  oceans  are  the  common  highways  of  mankind. 
Their  waters  belong  to  all,  and  no  nation,  no  matter 
how  powerful,  should  be  allowed  to  destroy  exclusively 
peaceful  commerce  on  the  seas.  This  proposition  was 
advanced  at  one  of  the  international  conferences  at 
The  Hague ;  among  the  greater  powers,  Great  Britain, 
France,  Russia  and  Japan  opposed  it,  and  Germany, 
Austria,  Italy  and  the  United  States  supported  it.* 

The  good  sense  and  justice  of  such  an  international 
law  will  be  recognized  by  all  mankind,  when  the  war, 
which  is  teaching  so  many  lessons,  shall  have  come  to 
an  end.  The  sea  activities  of  future  wars  will  then 
be  confined  to  naval  battles  and  the  search  for  and 
confiscation  of  contraband. 

Thus  one  powerful  argument  for  great  naval  arma- 
ments will  be  removed  on  the  one  hand  and  thus  also, 
on  the  other  hand,  international  business  will  go  for- 
ward during  hostilities  very  much  as  in  peace  time. 

Further  forecasts  than  the  above  can  not  be  ventured 
with  any  degree  of  rational  confidence.  The  war  has 
inspired  some  brilliant  dreams  for  the  world's  future. 
One  of  these  is  the  big  idea  of  a  United  States  of 
Europe  with  a  common  parliament  which  would  make 


*See  "International  War  Topics,"  Naval  War  College,  1913, 
p.  113. 


430     WHAT    IS    BACK   OF   THE   WAR 

war  between  European  countries  as  impossible  as  be- 
tween the  separate  states  of  our  own  country.  But 
this  is  not  likely  because  of  the  racial  lines  upon  which 
most  European  nations  are  established;  and  also  be- 
cause of  the  bitter  animosities  whose  dragon's  teeth 
are  now  being  sowed.  Still,  so  elemental  are  the 
changes  which  the  war  is  making  that  even  this 
thought  may  be  realized  as  the  decades  roll  on. 


THE   END 


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